Cancellation of Kerefov's fight and Hasanov's triumph
The first major mixed martial arts tournament of the week was held in Minsk, where the interim middleweight title was played within the framework of ACA 121.
Magomedrasul Hasanov showed that he was head and shoulders above Nikola Dipchikov in wrestling and grappling, having already celebrated an early victory in the second round.
The Russian fighter pushed his opponent to the ground several times and dominated the ground during the first five minutes, and in the next he ended up in full mount and carried out a ground and pound finishing move.
At a certain point, the Bulgarian stopped defending himself and forced the referee to intervene.
Success in the battle with Dipchikov allowed Hasanov to extend the unbeaten streak to 11 fights and win the 16th career victory.
The fighter received a temporary belt and guaranteed himself a meeting with the owner of the absolute title - Salam Abdurakhmanov.
In April 2019, he became the first champion of the ACA, and in November of the same year he made his first defense, but from that moment he did not play again due to injuries.
Initially, ACA 121 was supposed to include two championship battles, but the flyweight title holder Azamat Kerefov was forced to withdraw from the event in Minsk for health reasons.
As a result, his fight with Rasul Albaskhanov was canceled.
Also, the show was remembered for the unexpected defeat of the favorites.
So, the fifth bantamweight Shamil Shahbulatov lost to Oleg Borisov in an equal fight.
The former ACA title contender failed to take advantage of the colossal advantage in anthropometry (the difference in height was 14 centimeters) and lost by a split decision.
Amirkhan Adaev, who was on the second line in the ranking of the lightweight division, could not confirm his status either.
The athlete turned out to be weaker than Hakran Diaz, known for his performances in the UFC, and suffered his first defeat since March 2017.
Spectacular knockout from Avsaragova and Bader's victory
A few hours later, Ancasville hosted the second Bellator tournament in 2021, culminating in a confrontation between two former UFC fighters, Ryan Bader and Lyoto Machida.
The battle took place as part of the light heavyweight Grand Prix quarterfinals and ended with the American's triumph.
The reigning champion in the heavyweight division took a convincing revenge for the defeat eight years ago and clearly showed that the Brazilian is no longer able to compete with the stars of mixed martial arts.
The fight lasted all five scheduled rounds, following which Bader's victory was unlikely to be doubted by anyone.
Although at first he acted too carefully and clearly feared a repetition of the outcome of the first battle.
In August 2012, he presumptuously rushed forward, ran into a straight punch from the right and was deeply knocked out.
Therefore, this time the American worked more restrained and waited for the 42-year-old Brazilian to start getting tired.
This happened already in the course of the second segment, and the subsequent ones passed under the control of Ryan.
Affected by the age and weak wrestling skills of Machida, which did not allow him to oppose anything to his opponent on the ground.
In addition to the duel between Bader and Machida, Bellator 256 also included a couple of interesting confrontations.
The second number of the lightest weight Liz Carmush confidently dealt with Vanessa Porto, and the third-ranked featherweight division, Adam Borich, dealt with Jeremy Kennedy.
Former UFC title contender Kat Zingano, who caught Olivia Parker on the elbow lever, also celebrated an early victory.
At the same time, Russian fans were pleased with Diana Avsaragova, who successfully debuted in one of the largest MMA promotions on the planet.
Already at the 29th second, she knocked out Tara Graff and won her third career victory.
A series of counter strikes performed by the Russian woman immediately caught the best moments of the show and allowed her to draw attention to her person.
However, far-reaching conclusions about its prospects should not be made yet, because the rival was of a frankly low level.
On the eve of the duel, the American won only one fight out of three, losing twice ahead of schedule.
🎳 Diana Avsaragova bowled the perfect strike last night at # Bellator256!
Enjoy this "Instant Analysis" Breakdown from @RobinBlackMMA as he puts her performance into words as only Robin can. # BellatorOnShowtime # MMApic.twitter.com / DqQIr1bXd3
- BellatorMMA (@BellatorMMA) April 10, 2021
Transfer
Fight
Nights
100
Another major event in Russian MMA was to take place on Saturday.
The AMC Fight Nights promotion was planning to host its 100th tournament in its history.
The card itself turned out to be not the most impressive (especially for the anniversary show), but the picture was brightened up by two championship fights at once.
In the battle for the lightweight belt, Nariman Abbasov and Shamil Amirov were to compete, and Dmitry Bikrev and Goyti Dazaev were to fight for the welterweight title.
However, three hours before the start of the event, it was announced that it would be postponed for a day "for technical reasons."
At the same time, it was reported that on April 11 it will be held without spectators.
As the participant of the main fight of the evening Dmitry Bikrev told RT, the situation around AMC Fight Nights 100 began to heat up during the week.
According to the fighter, certain difficulties in organizing matters became known two days before the show, but there was still hope that everything would go according to plan.
“AMC Fight Nights 100 has been postponed to Sunday.
Honestly, since Thursday I was aware that there are certain difficulties (with the organization of the show
- RT
), but did not attach any importance to this.
Kamil (Hajiyev, President of AMC Fight Nights.
- RT
) had doubts about the preparation of the tournament, but thought that everything would be resolved positively.
In the end it turned out the way it turned out.
But the main thing is that the tournament will take place anyway.
I hope that it will not be held in front of empty stands, but a certain number of fans will be allowed, ”Bikrev said.
Also, the AMC Fight Nights welterweight champion said that he found out about the postponement of the show a few hours before it began.
According to the athlete, Hajiyev called him personally and asked if he would be able to perform a day later.
“Camille has been very stressed all these days.
On Saturday I called before lunch and it was clear from his voice that it was very difficult for him now.
He said only one thing: "Are you ready to fight on Sunday?"
He replied that he was ready, supported him.
I didn’t even bother asking where, at what time.
None of this mattered.
I understand what difficulties Hajiyev has to face.
A person is involved in transferring a tournament from one place to another.
It is extremely difficult to accomplish this in a day, especially when it comes to such a large event as Fight Nights.
Strength and patience for him, ”said Bikrev.
At the same time, the fighter himself assured that the change in the date of the show should not affect his performance.
Bikrev said that he did not feel discomfort because of the current situation.
“That doesn't make much difference.
If a person is ready for battle, then nothing will change in a day.
I am energized, full of energy, ready to show a brilliant performance, ”the athlete concluded.
Cancellation of Khizriev's fight and Holland's second defeat in a row
UFC Vegas 23 passed not without problems. Initially, two domestic fighters were supposed to compete in the tournament at once, but for various reasons not one of them remained in the final card.
A few weeks before the show, Shamil Gamzatov was forced to abandon the battle with Da Un Jang due to visa problems, and last Wednesday Aliaskhab Khizriev's debut fell through once again.
According to MMA Fighting, he passed a positive test for coronavirus and was unable to fight with Kyle Daukas.
In their absence, a fighter from Hong Kong with Russian roots, Sasha Palatnikov, turned the attention of the fans to himself, but this did not help him achieve success.
The battle with Impa Kasanganai lasted just over two rounds and ended with the American's triumph.
He took advantage of the enemy's indiscretion and caught a choke from behind.
Also, the show was remembered for a number of bright early victories.
Yaris Danjo and Mateusz Hamroth sent Jorgan De Castro and Scott Holtzman to a deep knockout, respectively, while Mackenzie Durn and Julian Marquez won by submission.
The Brazilian once again confirmed that it was not in vain that she won the World Grappling Championship and for the seventh time in her career she forced her opponent to surrender, and the American dealt with the once dangerous opponent in the person of Sam Alvi.
In the second most important fight of the evening, Arnold Allen took over Sodik Yussuf and remained undefeated in the UFC, and in the main duel of the evening, Marvin Vettori was stronger than Kevin Holland.
The fighters spent all five rounds in the cage, and the Italian competently used the huge gaps of his counterpart in wrestling and grappling.
The sixth middleweight won the fifth fight in a row, and his opponent suffered a second defeat in 15 days.