Tukhugov’s spectacular knockout, Moldavsky’s success and new champions at ACA: main events of the weekend in MMA

The triumph of Tukhugov and the failure of Mustafayev

One of the highlights of the week in mixed martial arts was the UFC Fight Night 168 tournament in New Zealand. In the main match of the evening, the stars of the light division Dan Hooker and Paul Felder met, and the attention of Russian fans was attracted by the performance of Zubayra Tukhugov and Magomed Mustafayev. However, if teammate Khabib Nurmagomedov achieved impressive success, his compatriot did not manage to win a second victory in a row in the largest MMA promotion on the planet.

It took Tukhugov less than a round to break the resistance of a strong opponent in the person of Kevin Aguilar. By this time, the American had 17 victories in his track record with only two defeats and in the future was considered as one of the contenders for being among the strongest featherweight. And the opinion of his prospects did not change even the defeat of Dan Ige in June 2019.

However, already in the fourth minute, Tukhugov, with a powerful left side, felt for Aguilar's jaw and forced him to be on the floor for the first time. Kevin rose quickly, but was unable to recover. Zubayr threw himself on the offensive and carried out a combination that ended with the same hook with his leading hand. He could only finish off the opponent and accept congratulations on the first victory in UFC in four years. The last time he got the better of Philip Nover in December 2015, after which he lost to Renat Carneiro and tied with Leron Murphy in a draw.

Unlike his compatriot, Mustafayev acted in the main card of the show, but could not support his initiative. His duel with Brad Riddell lasted all the planned rounds, and judicial notes were needed to identify the triumph. As a result, only one of the referees sided with the Russian, and the other two saw the superiority of the tournament owner.

At the same time, it is rather difficult to reproach the arbitrators with bias. Already in the first round, Riddell put Mustafayev on the floor with the strongest right swing, thereby securing himself a serious advantage. True, the second half of the five-minute confidently took the Russian, so if you did not draw it in a draw, then at least avoid the loss with a score of 8:10. The other two were extremely equal, but the New Zealander was a little sharper than the counterpart. He acted as number one, controlled the center of the octagon and hit hard. Magomed, on the other hand, was not so wealthy in the rack, and all his successes were gained in the stalls.

As often happens in such competitive battles, everything was decided by the ending. Riddell looked preferable in it, who not only spent a couple of takedowns, but also showed an impressive ground and pound. Mustafayev suffered a second defeat in the UFC and missed the opportunity to take a step in the direction of the top 15 lightweight rating.

Among other things, the tournament in Auckland was remembered for a bright knockout performed by heavyweight Marcus Rogerio de Lima and a Kimura from Jimmy Cool. At the same time, the result of the main battle caused considerable controversy in the fighting environment. Dan Hooker defeated Paul Felder by a separate decision of the judges, which many considered unfair. The New Zealander had a good first half of the fight, but acted rather passively.

Moldavian Series

Meanwhile, at Bellator, Russian fighters continue to make their way to the top, designating their claim to the championship in two prestigious weight categories. And if light heavyweight Vadim Nemkov has already earned the right to fight with the champion in two divisions, Ryan Bader, then heavyweight Valentin Moldavsky can very soon follow his example. On Saturday, he extended his successful series to four fights and forced him to talk about himself as one of the contenders for the title.

This time, Moldavsky prevailed over Javi Ayala, who, although he is not a top fighter, is able to please with a bright knockout at any time. This is exactly what he confirmed in the battle with Sergey Kharitonov, which lasted only 16 seconds, as well as a duel with the ex-UFC champion Frank Mir. It is noteworthy that in 2019, the American was supposed to fight with Vadim Minakov, but the battle broke down twice. The first time the cause was the mysterious trauma of a native of Porterville, and the second, visa problems with the former leader of the heavy division of the promotion.

Moldavsky did not try his luck and forced Ayalu to spend almost all 15 minutes of the fight on his back. He got to his feet without any problems, after which he confidently controlled and beat the enemy in the stalls. Javi was unable to demonstrate his knockout blow and suffered an unconditional defeat.

Championship fights at ACA

In the Russian MMA, the main event of the week was the ACA 104 tournament, in the final match of which the heavyweight champion was at stake. The current owner of the trophy, Yevgeny Goncharov, was opposed by Mukhumat Vakhayev, who had a series of five victories in a row.

The battle turned out to be very tense and emotional, which was caused by the complex relationship between the counterparts. Even on the eve of the tournament, they almost had a brawl during the interview, but then the conflict was hushed up. However, tension manifested itself during the battle, when at the end of the first round Vakhaev grabbed Goncharov by the chin. It is worth noting that the dirty tricks performed by Muhumat did not end there. So, in the third segment, he struck several blows in the head of the champion, for which he received a fair warning from referee Herb Dean.

However, such attacks do not pass without a trace, as this fight showed. Goncharov failed to recover properly and a minute later he ended up in the "guillotine". For some time he tried to resist, but in the end was forced to knock. For Eugene, this defeat was the third in his career and the first since 2015. The last time he lost to Yusup Suleymanov in the ProFC 58 tournament.

In the second most important match of the evening, Azamat Kerefov defeated Mansur Khatuyev and won the ACA flyweight title. Athletes spent all 25 minutes in a cage, according to which the judges gave preference to an athlete from Nalchik. He won the 12th career victory and remained undefeated. Another important event of the main card was a bright performance by Artyom Frolov. Middleweight effectively knocked out Bruno Santos and closed the defeat from Magomed Ismailov.