Islam Makhachev

Islam Makhachev was as dominant as usual in a first-round TKO win over Bobby Green to close out UFC Fight Night 202 from the promotion's Apex facility in Las Vegas on Saturday.

Makhachev wasted no time in doing the best impression of his coach Khabib Nurmagomedov. After a few exchanges on the feet, he took Green down and went to work with his ground-and-pound.

Green didn't have much recourse once the fight got to the ground. The striker was fighting Makhachev just two weeks after scoring a win over Nasrat Haqparast at UFC 271.

10. In. A. Row 😤

[ @MakhachevMMA | #UFCVegas49 ] pic.twitter.com/l6hlEkKTuL

— UFC (@ufc) February 27, 2022

The bout was supposed to take place between Makhachev and Beneil Dariush, which would have been an intriguing matchup between grapplers. However, Dariush was forced out of the bout with a leg injury.

So while Green should be commended for jumping in on short notice, this bout wasn't competitive.

It takes Makhachev's current win streak to 10. With Makharchev's No. 4 ranking, long winning streak and dominance, it won't be surprising if he skips a matchup with Dariush and goes right to a title shot.

     

Main Card

• Islam Makhachev def. Bobby Green via TKO at 3:23 of Round 1
• Wellington Turman def. Misha Cirkunov via submission (armbar) at 1:29 of Round 2
• Priscila Cachoeira def. Ji Yeon Kim via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Arman Tsarukyan def. Joel Alvarez via TKO at 1:57 of Round 2
• Armen Petrosyan def. Gregory Rodrigues via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 30-27)

Prelims

• Ignacio Bahamondes def. Rong Zhu via submission (guillotine choke) at 1:40 of Round 3
• Josiane Nunes def. Ramona Pascual via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26)
• Terrance McKinney def. Fares Ziam via submission (rear-naked choke) at 2:11 of Round 1
• Jonathan Martinez def. Alejandro Perez via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
• Ramiz Brahimaj def. Micheal Gillmore via submission (rear-naked choke) at 2:02 of Round 1
• Carlos Hernandez def. Victor Altamirano via split decision (28-29, 30-27, 29-28)

     

Wellington Turman def. Misha Cirkunov

Wellington Turman showed his submission skills are always dangerous against Misha Cirkunov. He locked up one of the quickest armbars you will ever see against Cirkunov to pull off a stunning victory in the second round.

Turman actually nearly won the fight in the first round. He had a rear-naked choke attempt that took Cirkunov a long time to finally defend.

However, it put the Brazilian in a bad spot, as he was exhausted, and Cirkunov ended the first round on a strong note.

It appeared Cirkunov was ready to take over the fight and potentially finish it when he had Turman on the ground. However, the 25-year-old threw up his legs and locked in a Hail Mary armbar that immediately forced the tap and gave Turman the win.

ARMBAR OUT OF NOWHERE BY @TURMANMMA 🤯 #UFCVegas49 pic.twitter.com/fb4n7UHNnx

— UFC (@ufc) February 27, 2022

It's a good thing he got it too. It's his first time winning back-to-back fights in six UFC fights.

     

Priscila Cachoeira def. Ji Yeon Kim

The flyweight contest between Priscila Cachoeira and Ji Yeon Kim appeared to be a stand-up battle on paper. Neither fighter was known to go to the ground.

Fortunately for fans, it played out exactly as expected. Both fighters put on a show in an absolute slugfest that came down to the final round.

The scorecards could be debated, to say the least. Kim had the advantage in significant strikes, landing 160 to Cachoeira's 77.

SLUGFEST. 🔥

🇰🇷 @Fire_Fist_Kim & 🇧🇷 @PedritaUFC just left it all in the Octagon! #UFCVegas49 pic.twitter.com/YbAwnxfs66

— UFC Europe (@UFCEurope) February 27, 2022

However, the Brazilian stole the third and final round with a series of elbows. She took some heavy shots to land them, but the judges were obviously impressed with the damage she was able to land to close out the fight.

The win probably saved Zombie Girl's job. She was 2-4 in her last six fights going into the night.

     

Arman Tsarukyan def. Joel Alvarez

Arman Tsarukyan made a violent statement in his second-round TKO win over Joel Alvarez. It was a fight that will be remembered for a dominant performance from Tsarukyan but also the outpouring of blood from a cut on Alvarez's nose.

Tsarukyan proved he wasn't afraid of grappling with Alvarez early on. He locked on a takedown and established top position. The real problems for Alvarez came from the ground-and-pound, though.

Tsarukyan opened up a gash on his opponent's nose that required the doctor to take a look at it between rounds. Alvarez was deemed fit to continue fighting in Round 2.

NASTY G&P from 🇦🇲 @ArmanUFC! #UFCVegas49 pic.twitter.com/nMKgONSpKD

— UFC Europe (@UFCEurope) February 27, 2022

That might have been the case, but it didn't take long for Tsarukyan to get the upper hand again. He finished Alvarez with ground strikes a little over a minute into the round.

The 25-year-old now has five wins in a row. His only loss in the UFC is to Islam Makhachev.

     

Armen Petrosyan def. Gregory Rodrigues

The judges' scorecards could have named either fighter the winner in Armen Petrosyan vs. Gregory Rodrigues, but the real winner was those who watched the fight.

The main card kickoff was a back-and-forth roller coaster with a little bit of everything. The two traded momentum-shifting strikes throughout the three-round affair.

Ultimately, Petrosyan did enough to get the nod from two of the three judges. He has some flexibility to thank for making it out of the third round. Rodrigues nearly pulled off the rare Suloev Stretch.

Almost joining an exclusive club alongside @FunkmasterMMA & @Zabeast_MMA! 😳 #UFCVegas49 pic.twitter.com/HbEZ6YCgJv

— UFC Europe (@UFCEurope) February 27, 2022

The last-round submission attempt wasn't enough for Rodrigues, though, and Petrosyan will reap the rewards. He earned his UFC contract on the heels of a first-round knockout on Dana White's Contender Series.

However, he proved he belongs with this win in his UFC debut.

When Khabib Nurmagomedov announced his retirement from mixed martial arts in November 2020, in what seemed to be the prime of his fighting life, it felt like the end of something. He had been so dominant for so long, almost single-handedly putting Russia's rugged Republic of Dagestan on the MMA map along the way, and suddenly, only moments after he strangled Justin Gaethje unconscious to improve to a staggering 29-0 overall, it was all over. 

Just one year later, Nurmagomedov's retirement looks less like the end of something and more like the flashpoint for an era of dominance for fighters from Dagestan, its surrounding republics and oblasts, and larger Russia.

The signs couldn't be any clearer after UFC 267, which went down last Saturday in the heat of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. 

In the fourth of six main card fights, Dagestan's Islam Makhachev picked up a first-round submission victory over New Zealand's Dan Hooker, who has proved himself to be one of the grittiest fighters in the lightweight division. The win pushed Makhachev, who happens to be a close friend and training partner of Nurmagomedov, to an incredible 21-1 overall. It also cemented his status as one of the top contenders for for a shot at the lightweight title Nurmagomedov once wore. 

The 30-year-old wasted no time in calling for that opportunity post-fight. 

"Next fight, it has to be for the title, or a contender fight, because I have a nine-fight winning streak," Makhachev said at the UFC 267 post-fight press conference. "Who in my division have this? Just the champion [Charles Oliveira]. 

"And I feel my division is a little bit asleep right now," he added, putting his rivals on notice in a way Nurmagomedov once might have. "I have to wake up my division, because we have to change some things. The old guys from the top five, they've already fought for the title: [Michael] Chandler, [Justin] Gaethje. That's why we have to change something."

It remains to be seen if Makhachev gets his desired title shot, but he's very close to getting his hands on his division's ultimate prize.

The same can be said of Khamzat Chimaev, a native of Russia's Chechen Republic, which borders Dagestan. The 27-year-old extended his record to 10-0 with a first-round submission win—the product of a rear-naked choke—over China's Li Jingliang on the UFC 267 main card. 

Chimaev, though relatively inexperienced, has long drawn comparisons to Nurmagomedov and, despite their brief and supposedly overblown feud, has made it clear that he has immense respect for the retired legend.

After Chimaev's win over Jingliang, many believe he's primed for a Nurmagomedov-esque reign as a UFC champion, but he already considers himself the welterweight division's uncrowned king.

"I am coming for everybody," Chimaev said in his post-fight interview. "I kill everybody. I am the champ."

Makhachev and Chimaev's UFC 267 wins prove that Nurmagomedov's retirement was not the end of Russia's time in the MMA limelight, but rather the beginning of it—and that's without even mentioning new interim bantamweight champion Petr Yan, heavyweight contender Alexander Volkov, or light heavyweight contender Magomed Ankalaev, who also won in Abu Dhabi.

While none of them are closely affiliated with or regularly compared to Nurmagomedov, all three carry the Russian flag when they make their walks to the Octagon. Then there's Tagir Ulanbekov and Zubaira Tukhugov, a pair of rising Nurmagomedov students, both of whom won on Saturday's undercard.

All of the above seem to recognize their role in continuing Nurmagomedov's incredible legacy—none more clearly, perhaps, than Makhachev, who now calls the unbeaten legend a head coach. 

Makhachev doesn't just relish comparisons to Nurmagomedov, but he also strives to cultivate them as he continues his march toward the lightweight title. 

"I want to be next Khabib," he told BT Sport ahead of his victory over Hooker. "I want to be like Khabib. Honestly, I want to smash all my opponents like Khabib, too.

"If somebody say, 'You fight like Khabib' or 'You gonna be like Khabib,' I want to be."

Islam Makhachev didn't seem bothered by the bright lights as he picked up a third-round TKO win over Thiago Moises in his first main event at UFC on Vegas 26.

Makhachev put in a very working man's performance. He plied his signature ground control at various spots throughout the fight. He also utilized just enough boxing to hold his own on the feet and open takedown opportunities.

Takedown number 1️⃣ for @MakhachevMMA. #UFCVegas31 pic.twitter.com/soO1rwNheE

— UFC (@ufc) July 18, 2021

As usual with Makharchev, Moises didn't have much opportunity to mount his own offense. He did manage to take down the Dagestan-native once but turned it into next to nothing.

Moises' resistance continued to dwindle after showing signs of life in the third round. Makhachev went to work patiently trying to set his sights on a submission and finally got what he wanted.

Always in control 🔒

🇷🇺 @MakhachevMMA sinks in the RNC to close the show! #UFCVegas31 pic.twitter.com/LN4z3LnmS6

— UFC (@ufc) July 18, 2021

He locked in the choke and forced the tap to extend his current winning streak to eight. After the fight he used the opportunity to call out the division, specifically Rafael dos Anjos.

Always in control 🔒

🇷🇺 @MakhachevMMA sinks in the RNC to close the show! #UFCVegas31 pic.twitter.com/LN4z3LnmS6

— UFC (@ufc) July 18, 2021

If the 29-year-old can stay healthy he's beginning to look like someone the entire lightweight division is going to want to avoid.

     

Main Card

• Islam Makhachev def. Thiago Moises via submission (rear-naked choke) at 2:38 of Round 4
• Miesha Tate def. Marion Reneau via TKO at 1:53 of Round 3
• Mateusz Gamrot def. Jeremy Stephens via submission (kimura) at 1:05 of Round 1
• Rodolfo Vieira def. Dustin Stoltzfus via submission (rear-naked choke) at 1:54 of Round 3
• Billy Quarantillo def. Gabriel Benitez via TKO at 3:40 of Round 3

Prelims

• Daniel Rodriguez def. Preston Parsons via TKO at 3:47 of Round 1
• Amanda Lemos def. Montserrat Ruiz via KO at 0:35 of Round 1
• Sergey Morozov def. Khalid Taha via unanimous decision (30-27 x3)
• Malcolm Gordon def. Francisco Figueiredo via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28 x2)
• Rodrigo Nascimento def. Alan Baudot via TKO at 1:29 of Round 2

     

Miesha Tate def. Marion Reneau

Former champion Miesha Tate's retirement is now a thing of the past. With a third-round TKO win over Marion Reneau, Cupcake is back.

She fought for the first time since walking away from the sport in 2016. That happened to be the year that she captured the bantamweight championship before losing to Amanda Nunes and Raquel Pennington.

The layoff didn't appear to hurt her too much. She worked behind a solid jab in the striking game but went to her bread and butter with her ground game for the majority of the fight. She utilized that to set up the opportunity to drown her opponent in strikes until she got the stoppage.

TATE 2.0 🙌

Miesha Tate has officially reignited her career 💥

[ #UFCVegas31 is LIVE on @ESPN & @ESPNPlus ] pic.twitter.com/RgOa0fv7sA

— UFC (@ufc) July 18, 2021

Tate may have sat out for five years, but she isn't over the hill by any stretch. She's 34 years old with several years of rest to rejuvenate her. In a division desperate for threats to Nunes, it wouldn't be surprising if she's in the title picture soon.

     

Mateusz Gamrot def. Jeremy Stephens

Mateusz Gamrot did his best to put the lightweight division on notice in his main card fight with Jeremy Stephens.

The 30-year-old didn't waste any time in dispatching of the UFC veteran with a first-round submission that took just over a minute to lock in. While Gamrot is known for his striking and picked up his first UFC win by knockout, he showed off his submission game with a kimura:

Takedown! Kimura! Tap! 🤯

📚 Textbook finish by @Gamer_MMA. #UFCVegas31 pic.twitter.com/NDEab0kioW

— UFC (@ufc) July 18, 2021

Michael Carroll of UFC Stats noted that it was just the 12th kimura in the organization since 2015.

Gamrot was a two-division champion in KSW before coming over to the UFC. His combination of kickboxing and submission makes him an exciting finisher. That alone is enough to make him a fighter worth keeping tabs on.

Given his spot here against an aging veteran, the promotion seems to believe he could take advantage of opportunities down the line.

     

Rodolfo Vieira def. Dustin Stoltzfus

Former world champion jiu-jitsu practitioner Rodolfo Vieira revealed some serious flaws the last time we saw him in the cage. Against Dustin Stoltzfus, he did a lot to address those concerns in a third-round submission win.

In a submission loss to Anthony Hernandez, Vieira's conditioning was challenged. He completely gassed out before ultimately tapping to someone who is an inferior pure grappler. He has also struggled to this point to show any striking game.

Against his opponent Saturday night, he established a strong jab, more than held his own in the stand-up and had plenty of gas to lock in a rear-naked choke in the third and final round.

INCREDIBLE 🤯Rodolfo Vieira finished with STYLE 💥#UFCVegas31 pic.twitter.com/XTVv8ncUj8

— UFC (@ufc) July 18, 2021

With those questions somewhat answered, Vieira is once again an intriguing prospect in the middleweight division.

     

Billy Quarantillo def. Gabriel Benitez

Billy Quarantillo and Gabriel Benitez looked like a close matchup on paper, but once the cage door shut, it was far from close. Quarantillo got the stoppage win in the third round, but it was long over before it was officially stopped.

Quarantillo landed a big right hand that floored Benitez and punctuated it with a slam off a Benitez submission attempt in the first round. It was just the beginning of a thorough performance for the 32-year-old.

KNOCKDOWN 💥 SLAM 💥@BillyQMMA is flowing early at #UFCVegas31 pic.twitter.com/Nvfd8u7GI7

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) July 18, 2021

After winning his first three UFC fights, Quarantillo suffered his first defeat at the hands of Gavin Tucker in December 2020. Benitez appeared to be a game opponent on paper, having picked up finishes in 18 of his 22 wins.

Instead, Quarantillo established that he's still worth watching. His well-rounded game could get him on a hot streak soon.

Welcome back to TGIFighting, where we talk to top fighters, preview the weekend's combat sports action and make crotchety observations about the MMA news of the day. Ready? Let's go!

     

B/R Exclusive: The Next Khabib? Islam Makhachev Has Sights on Lightweight Division 

Islam Makhachev isn't quite sure how many rounds he's sparred with Khabib Nurmadomedov, but he's got a rough estimate. 

"More than a thousand."

Simply put, Makhachev (19-1) is the latest monster to emerge from Russia's Dagestan region. The 29-year-old has long been favorably compared with teammate and mentor Nurmagomedov (29-0), who happens to be every normal person's pick for the best lightweight in MMA history.

With Nurmagomedov now retired, it's Makhachev's time to shine. This Saturday marks his coming-out party as he appears in his first UFC main event, where he'll take on heavy underdog Thiago Moises (15-4) in the culminating bout of UFC on ESPN 26.

"This is a big step in my career because it's a main event, five rounds," the soft-spoken Makhachev told me in an exclusive interview with Bleacher Report. "All the attention is gonna be on me, and I can show my skills. Moises beat some top guys. He has good striking, good jiu-jitsu. But I am going to show my skills."

If it bothers him to live in Nurmagomedov's shadow, he doesn't let on. It doesn't come as a surprise that they both have similar, grappling-oriented styles that involve sadistically breaking down an opponent's will to fight. Of his 19 wins, 11 have come by stoppage, with eight by submission.

Although Nurmagomedov's standup was a little more polished, Makhachev says it doesn't make much difference because, well, people can't seem to stop his ground game.

"It's normal, because all my life I'm training with him," he said. "We both like to pressure our opponents. We have the same style. ... My striking is good, but I have wrestling, I know. I have wrestling more than everybody. So I just choose the easy way, you know?"  

The similarities are further explained by the fact that both men trained under Nurmagomedov's father, Abdulmanap, who died last year because of complications related to COVID-19.  

"I think about him all the time," Makhachev said. "He always said I was going to be champion." 

It's not an abstraction or empty motivational sloganeering. Accordingly, Makhachev has a concrete blueprint. He's sharply aware of his place in the division and on the official UFC lightweight rankings, and he has an ambitious but realistic plan to get to the top of this crowded weight class—assuming he can take care of business.

"Now I am No. 9, but I think maybe after this fight I am gonna be like eight, seven," he said. "After that I think two more fights, and then in 2022 I fight for the title."

Makhachev is watching the top of the division closely, including last weekend's calamitous main event at UFC 264 between Conor McGregor (22-6) and Dustin Poirier (28-6, 1 NC), which ended with a doctor's stoppage TKO after McGregor broke his leg under decidely odd circumstances.

Nurmagomedov, who defeated McGregor in 2018 and Poirier in 2019, has been lobbing verbal grenades at McGregor ever since (more on that below). Makhachev doesn't join in exactly, but he doesn't object, either.

"Honestly, I don't like Conor too much," he continued. "Because he is a bad person, you know? It was very bad, what he said before the fight, about [Poirier's] family, about Poirier, about the fight."

If everything goes according to plan, and Makhachev proves equal to the hype, he may well get a shot at McGregor down the road. It all starts Saturday with the biggest fight of Makhachev's career.

     

Conor's "Behind the Music" Nadir Continues

If you're too young to remember Behind the Music, the VH1 docudrama's formula was pretty simple: band is really good, band gets famous, fame goes to their heads, they spin out of control, redemption story ensues.

Guess what segment we're on with the Conor McGregor episode.

After suffering perhaps the most ironic broken leg in the history of that particular injury, McGregor now faces at least six months on the shelf as UFC 264 opponent Dustin Poirier moves on with a TKO by doctor's stoppage and eyes a megawatt dance later this year or early next with lightweight champ Charles Oliveira (31-8, 1 NC).

Meanwhile, the MMA world is nowhere near finished piling on McGregor, be it for the loss or the incessant trash talk that sometimes gets a little too personal. And Team McGregor is not done firing back—far from it. Let's take a little walk back over the last week, shall we? It's a veritable cavalcade of haterade. 

- Tuesday: Former UFC bantamweight champ and current broadcaster Dominick Cruz wondered how McGregor can grow if he can't accept defeat. 

- Sunday, Monday and Tuesday: Nurmagomedov absolutely hammered the former double champ. He called McGregor "evil," and told ESPN's Brett Okamoto the Irishman is both a "bag of s--t" and "finished." He also said Poirier would beat him 100 times out of 100. This is what we in journalism circles refer to as cold-blooded. But after McGregor's sore loserdom, it's hard to argue he didn't put this target on his own back.

- Tuesday: WWE legend Kurt Angle added some levity to the proceedings, saying McGregor's gruesome leg break was nary a big deal.

- Tuesday: Speaking to W2W (h/t Fox Sports), McGregor coach John Kavanagh questioned broadcaster Joe Rogan's decision to interview McGregor in the cage, even as medical personnel were attempting to stabilize the leg.

- Wednesday: YouTuber Jake Paul entered the fray, calling McGregor a "piece of s--t" when speaking to TMZ and adding McGregor has "lost the sauce" in an interview with Real 92.3 LA's Big Boy's Neighborhood (h/t Hypebeast).

Dang.

If McGregor's career arc unfolds true to cliche, this is the part where he looks inward, realizes it's up to him and him alone, mends his fences and faults, recovers that lost spark and rises like a phoenix from the ashes to smite all his doubters. That's the happy version, anyway.

       

Tyron Woodley vs Jake Paul Fight Date Announced 

Are you a diehard MMA fan looking for hardcore MMA news? This is your section. Just kidding, this is where we talk about YouTube celebrities.

If you're looking for a veneer of seriousness, consider the side bet these two created, whereby the loser gets "I Love [Winner's Name]" tattooed on their body. Presumably, they meant the permanent kind. No word on font.

I can't see Woodley doing this, even if he loses. Someone review the contract carefully so he can't wriggle out through a loophole. 

     

Congrats to Lauren Murphy

Lauren Murphy (15-4) has scrapped and clawed her way to the top of the women's flyweight division. Her style isn't always pretty, but "Lucky" Lauren is tough as nails and knows how to grind out wins. 

She's on a five-fight win streak, which paid off this week when the UFC announced that the 37-year-old fan favorite will tangle with seemingly unbeatable champion Valentina Shevchenko (21-3), who is rapidly running out of challengers in the division. 

Will Murphy give her a solid knock? In all candor, it seems unlikely given the well-rounded game and pure firepower Valentina brings to the table. But just by virtue of getting here after 11 fights and seven years in the UFC, Murphy has already won. 

      

Stone Cold Lead Pipe Lock of the Week

Record to date: 14-4

Makhachev is a massive -850 favorite to handle Moises, per DraftKings. That's too big to be fun, even for this conservative betting space. Let's instead look elsewhere on the main card, where fast-rising Mateusz Gamrot (18-1, 1 NC) is a -210 favorite to defeat Jeremy Stephens (28-18, 1 NC). Stephens is the bigger name, but he's winless in his last five contests.

Gamrot is 1-1 but made good on his potential in his last bout, where he knocked out a solid opponent in Scott Holtzman (14-5) in the second round. Gamrot doesn't even have a Wikipedia page. That changes after Saturday. Lock it in.