Wrestling master class: how Nurmagomedov's brother suppressed Maness, and Tsarukyan lost to Gamrot in an equal fight

Since the beginning of the year, the Absolute Fighting Championship has held 21 tournaments, and five of them were led by athletes from Russia.

In the main fight of the evening, Islam Makhachev, Magomed Ankalaev and Alexander Volkov managed to light up, and the latter did it twice - first in London and then in Las Vegas.

And at the end of June, they were joined by Arman Tsarukyan, who faced the most difficult test in his career in the face of Mateusz Gamrot.

In the event of a victory over the Pole, he got the opportunity to break into the top ten lightweight and be considered as one of the potential contenders for the title.

No less expected was the debut of Umar Nurmagomedov in the main card.

Yes, he was opposed by a much less powerful opponent, and the win hardly allowed him to even count on getting into the top 15 of the easiest category, but the opportunity to watch the cousin of the ex-champion was hardly worth missing.

After all, he is already considered one of the most promising fighters in the division up to 61.2 kg and a serious competitor for his strongest representatives - Peter Yan, Aljamain Sterling and TJ Dillashaw.

Few expected that Nate Maness could create serious problems for Nurmagomedov Jr.

The American began his career in the UFC with three victories in a row, but experienced great difficulties in each fight.

Although Johnny Munoz lost to him by decision of the judges, he landed almost twice as many significant blows (49:21), while Luke Sanders and Tony Graveli dominated the stand for a long time, and the latter even knocked him down.

Subsequently, Nate miraculously came to his senses, arranged a hard felling and still took the upper hand ahead of schedule.

But it was hardly worth believing that this could be done in a duel with such a prudent opponent as Umar.

At the same time, it cannot be said that Nurmagomedov was not afraid of Maness.

Otherwise, it is unlikely that he would bet on the fight in the first two rounds.

Previously, this tactic was actively used by Khabib, who preferred to first wear down the opponent on the ground and in the clinch, and then warm up in the standing position.

In this vein, he acted in the battle with Al Iaquinta, and in the duel with Conor McGregor.

In the first two rounds, he climbed into the legs and forced the Irishman to waste his strength, and in the third he decided to box.

Albeit not very successful.

Nurmagomedov Jr. did the same.

Of the first ten minutes of the fight, eight passed on the ground, where the Russian reigned supreme.

Even if he did not cause damage to Maness, he superbly controlled him on the canvas.

Moreover, if in the opening round he practically did not try to improve his position and only in the end tried to go to the half-guard, then the second segment was completely devoted to working on transitions.

In fact, the fight was like a wrestling workout, during which Umar moved between half-guard and side control, gradually attacking with his elbows and threatening with submissions.

After Maness pretty much "ate", Nurmagomedov decided to demonstrate his skills in percussion technique.

And it looked pretty impressive.

I especially remember the powerful push-kick (push kick) to the head, which threw the American back.

But even this did not make him “wake up” and try to oppose at least something to his opponent.

Nate continued to work as number two and hope for a counterpunch, but excessive passivity turned into another transfer to the ground for him.

This time, Umar decided to act in a slightly more aggressive manner, but failed to knock out the opponent.

However, hardly anyone could doubt his success.

Nurmagomedov won by unanimous decision, and two judges gave him the victory with a big score (30:27, 30:26, 30:25).

Umar extended his unbeaten streak to 15 fights and made a serious bid to get into the elite of the lightest division.

The duel between Tsarukyan and Gamrot turned out to be much more intense.

Although it could not be otherwise, because in the octagon there were opponents of approximately the same level and similar skills.

Both had enough to offer on the stand, but were primarily famous for their wrestling.

So, the Russian-Armenian athlete averaged 2.6 takedowns per fight, and the Pole - three.

At the same time, Arman ranked fifth among the active fighters of the promotion in terms of the percentage of stay in a dominant position (32.7%) and sixth in terms of control (39.8%).

It is possible that Mateusz would have been among the strongest, but for this it is necessary to hold at least five fights.

And he had only four in the asset until this evening.

At first, everything was in favor of Tsarukyan.

In the first five minutes, he blocked four takedowns, while he himself succeeded, although he failed to gain a foothold on the ground.

The dodgy Pole performed a roll and went behind the back of the Russian, but failed to do anything significant.

Yes, and I missed noticeably more in the standing position (10:15).

Gradually, the fighters began to gain momentum.

In the second round, Tsarukyan began to use more and more middle kicks, which became his main weapon in this battle.

Only during this segment, he pierced the body several times, to which the enemy responded with only rare oncoming hits from his hands.

On his feet, Arman looked much more inventive: he moved better, cut corners well and hit much more accentuated.

The turning point came in the third round.

Tsarukyan started very well and hit a powerful right straight to the head, after which he confidently defended himself from the transfer.

But in the third minute, Gamrot still managed to “stick” to the opponent and provoke a clinch, and subsequently knock Arman to the canvas twice.

Let it not be possible to gain a foothold there, the main task was completed.

The Russian lost a lot of strength and although he interrupted the Pole in the end, he already looked rather tired.

Before this fight, Tsarukyan had never spent more than 15 minutes in a cage, while Gamrot participated in protracted fights three times.

Perhaps it was the experience of title bouts in KSW that caused the Pole to look fresher in the “champion” rounds and gradually began to outperform the opponent.

First, he struck several blows to the head and cut the skin under the Russian's left eye.

And then he returned to wrestling.

Even though middle kicks helped Arman to stay in this fight in many ways, one of them became the reason for the missed takedown.

Mateusz grabbed his leg and subsequently laid his opponent on the floor, almost taking his back.

Before the last round, cornermen demanded that Tsarukyan forget about the fight and spend all five minutes on his feet.

And although at first he strictly followed their recommendations, he still could not resist the temptation to again attempt a translation.

That did not end with success, and after 20 seconds he himself was on the ground.

Gamroth's chic takedown allowed him to immediately get behind his back, perhaps becoming the key during the entire fight.

The Pole again did not come up with anything interesting, but instead he stole a minute of time and a little energy from the Russian.

As a result, although Arman tried to put pressure, he failed to score significant hits, and 30 seconds before the gong again failed to cope with the pressure of Mateusz.

He again pulled him into the stalls and finally persuaded the judges to his side.

As a result, none of the judges sided with Tsarukyan - 47:48, 47:48, 47:48.

Armand suffered his second defeat in the UFC and could not extend his winning streak to six fights.

In turn, Gamroth took the upper hand for the fourth time in a row and will certainly get into the top 10 lightweight.