The tournament in memory of Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov caused a serious stir not only among fans of mixed martial arts, but also among other representatives of the sports world.

In recent years, the father of the reigning UFC lightweight champion has gained a lot of popularity, and many famous athletes and coaches have come to honor his memory.

For example, famous fighters Pyotr Yan and Magomed Ismailov, head coach of the Russian national football team Stanislav Cherchesov, Spartak players Georgy Dzhikia and Reziuan Mirzov, general director of the Bolshoi Moscow Circus Edgard Zapashny, famous powerlifter Mikhail and many others.

Khabib Nurmagomedov himself watched the performances, who the next day was supposed to go to Dubai to prepare for the title fight with Justin Gaji.

Together with him, a number of representatives of the Eagles MMA team were present at the arena, including the brothers Abubakar and Umar, as well as another pupil of his father, Islam Makhachev.

It is noteworthy that all three will join him at UFC 254.

As part of the preliminary program, 11 bouts took place, eight of which ended ahead of schedule.

Kazakhstani Sabit Zhusupov, who sent Brazilian Rildechi Diaz to the floor, was marked by a striking knockout, and one of the most anticipated events was the performance of his younger brother Zabit Magomedsharipov.

Many expected from 19-year-old Hasan effective strikes in a standing position, but he decided to bet on his wrestling skills.

As a result, it took him less than four minutes to "strangle" the Georgian fighter Timur Akaba and win his third career victory.

The main card of the tournament began with a sensation.

On the eve of the battle, Maxim Butorin and Goyti Dazaev had two defeats and one draw each, while the Russian won eight more victories (17: 9).

Nevertheless, the Kazakhstani performed extremely successfully and managed to defeat the former contender for the Fight Nights Global welterweight title.

In the course of the bout, Butorin opened a deep cut, which forced the referee to stop the duel.

Following his first career defeat, Magomed Al-Abdula suffered, known for having met Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov as a child.

Khabib's father found him stealing tomatoes in his own garden, but later became his mentor and led him into mixed martial arts.

Ivan Eremenko acted as a counterpart to Al-Abdula.

The Dagestani athlete too imprudently rushed into the attack and missed the oncoming line performed by the opponent.

A fighter from Kaliningrad rushed to finish off, but was stopped by the referee.

The third most important fight of the evening was at stake for the Fight Nights Global Featherweight Championship.

The current title holder Muhammad Eminov very confidently spent the first round of the fight with Muratbek Kasymbay, but subsequently slowed down and allowed the counterpart to level the situation a little.

The second segment turned out to be relatively equal, but already in the third, the Russian again took possession of the advantage and no longer allowed the Kazakh to seize the initiative.

During the battle, Eminov easily transferred the opponent to the ground and confidently controlled on the ground, calmly gaining points.

In the stance, Kasymbai looked good, but on the back he was extremely passive and could not compete with the champion.

Two judges gave Muhammad all five rounds, and one - four out of five.

In the main fight of the evening, Usman Nurmagomedov met with Svyatoslav Shabanov.

Many experts expected that Khabib's cousin would easily defeat his compatriot and win for the 11th time in his career, but in reality everything turned out a little more complicated.

At the very beginning, the native of Novosibirsk showed that he was ready to compete with a star opponent and almost knocked him down.

A combination of blows to the head found a target, but he survived.

Usman quickly drew conclusions and first pulled Svyatoslav to the ground, and then felt the distance and rhythm in the standing position.

The second half of the five-minute session was dictated by Nurmagomedov, who perfectly alternated low kicks with jabs and straight kicks to the head.

Shabanov clearly could not keep up with a more technical and faster opponent, and in the end he had blood on his face.

The second round was one-sided.

Nurmagomedov immediately took the initiative into his own hands and after three and a half minutes celebrated success.

He completely surpassed Shabanov in a standing position and, during one of the episodes, injured the opponent's left leg.

The battle went to the ground, Usman struck several blows with his fist on the calf muscle of Svyatoslav and forced him to refuse to continue the fight.

In the main fight of the evening for the Fight Nights Global middleweight title, Vladimir Mineev and the holder of the interim Gorilla Fighting Championship Dauren Yermekov fought.

However, there was no particular struggle.

The superiority of the Russian in the class was visible to the naked eye.

He immediately occupied the center of the cage and began to bombard both the head and the left leg of the Kazakhstani over and over again.

As a result, by the end of the round, an extensive hematoma had formed on the athlete's left thigh.

In the second five-minute interval Mineev did not slow down and continued to dominate the fight.

He worked great on all "floors", evenly loading the head, body and legs of the counterpart.

Yermekov's only success was hitting the jaw during one of the exchanges, but Vladimir quickly recovered and rushed forward again.

Dauren spent the ending on the ground, trying to protect himself from a flurry of blows.

The denouement came in the third round.

Mineev continued to attack and once again felt a gap in the defense of Ermekov.

A series of accurate blows to the body caused serious damage to the Kazakhstani, from which he could not recover.

Vladimir pressed his opponent to the net and began to finish off, forcing the referee to intervene.