“When you’re ready, just let me know: how Nurmagomedov’s brother strangled Gonzalez and challenged the Bellator champion

Initially, the Russians were supposed to take part in almost half of the battles of the Bellator 283 tournament, but in the end, only four domestic fighters reached Tacoma.

Two representatives of the Fedor Team were missing at once.

Viktor Nemkov was injured and again lost the opportunity to close the defeat from Karl Albrektsson 15 months ago, for unnamed reasons, the duel involving Vladimir Tokov also broke down.

And although the matchmakers at first tried to arrange a battle for his failed opponent, later Augusto Montalvo himself refused to fight Archie Colgan.

In general, this show can be called one of the most problematic for the promotion in recent times.

Lightweight champion Patricky Freire was also injured, and as a result, the title fight with Sidney Outlaw was canceled, and the Brazilian was replaced by Azerbaijani Tofik Musaev, who had recently suffered a heavy defeat in the Japanese Rizin League.

All this was reflected in Douglas Lima with Jason Jackson, who had to prepare for a battle lasting five rounds instead of three.

The opponent of the Russian Akhmed Magomedov also changed.

It is true that Kai Kamaka and Kevin Bem were hardly a danger to him.

He easily confirmed this hypothesis.

It took only 76 seconds for Magomedov to land a rear naked choke and put a spectacular end to his debut fight in the American promotion.

At the same time, Bem himself provoked the transfer to the stalls.

The American failed in the standing position and dived at his feet, but the Russian easily defended himself, and then, with an elusive movement, ended up behind him.

For Ahmed, this victory was the ninth in his career and the first since August 2021.

Then he won by unanimous decision against Ilyas Askhanov on BRAVE CF 53, after which he did not enter the cage.

Gadzhi Rabadanov had a much harder time, but this is easily explained.

Yet he was opposed not by a league debutant, but by an experienced opponent who lost only one of four battles in Bellator.

In December 2021, Bobby King was unable to cope with the future fifth number of the division, Alexander Shabliy, after which he took over twice.

But he did not have enough wrestling skills to compete with Rabadanov.

In the stand, he sometimes looked no worse, but already in the first round he allowed himself to be transferred to the ground twice.

Moreover, on the back he practically did not offer resistance and gave the opponent easy control and score points.

In the second, things got even worse.

Rabadanov again carried out a takedown, but already made his way into the side control position, after which he took his back and began to threaten the choke.

But the most striking episode came towards the end of the round, when Gaggi lost position and gave Bobby a chance to work on top himself.

At first, this seemed like a great opportunity for King.

However, a moment of confusion - and the American is already desperately trying to escape from the elbow lever.

In the end, he succeeded, but not without the help of a gong.

In the third segment, Rabadanov scored a couple of good hits to the jaw, and another pass to the legs removed all questions.

Gaggi won his third win in a row in Bellator and now he may well break into the top seven.

Until now, he has been ranked ninth in the lightweight rankings.

As part of the main card, two fights with the participation of the Russians were also expected.

The first to enter the cage was Mukhamed Berkhamov, who had to pass the most difficult test in his career.

At one time, Lorenz Larkin was considered one of the brightest UFC welterweight strikers and did not lose his position after moving to another American promotion.

There he was second only to Douglas Lima, who held the title at that time, and Paul Daley, who was extremely uncomfortable for himself from a stylistic point of view.

He approached the fight with the Russian on a series of six victories and represented a huge danger.

Especially if he believes too much in his own strength and decides to exchange with him in the rack.

However, Berkhamov, as expected, focused on the fight and already at the 27th second he knocked Larkin to the floor.

He immediately tried to perform the guillotine, but did not succeed, after which he was forced to crawl half the cage on his back.

A struggle ensued at the net, where Mukhamed continued to look preferable and confidently controlled Lorenz.

Tired of constant pressure, the American committed a short-sighted act and struck a forbidden blow with his elbow to the back of the head.

The Russian did not react immediately, but grabbed his head and gave the referee a reason to stop the battle.

For several minutes, Berkhamov could not get to his feet, after which the judge demanded to call an interpreter into the cage.

He asked the fighter if he was ready to continue fighting and received a negative answer.

According to the Russian, the hit was too serious.

Berkhamov's spokesman tried to ask Steve Newport if he thought Larkin was deliberately hitting the back of the head, but he expectedly evaded the answer. 

As a result, the battle was finally interrupted, and the hit in the back of the head was recognized as unintentional, as a result of which the battle was declared invalid.

Almost bursting into tears in the cage, Larkin came to his senses and calmly left the arena, while Berkhamov needed the help of a second.

After that, it was the turn of Usman Nurmagomedov, who also faced a very dangerous opponent.

Especially considering the one whom Bellator had previously put up against him - against their background, Chris Gonzalez seemed to be an extremely serious opponent, capable of providing him with decent resistance both on the ground and on the stand.

This was confirmed by the great experience of the American in Greco-Roman wrestling, and a good striking technique.

Most recently, Saad Awad felt it on himself, already at the 36th second he missed a smashing high-kick.

However, Gonzalez failed to take advantage of this.

The very first attempt to go to close range and make a transfer ended in failure.

Nurmagomedov stopped him and immediately closed the lock on his neck, which he did not let go.

The American desperately tried to escape from the standing guillotine in the style of John Jones, but failed and was forced to knock.

Nurmagomedov won the 15th consecutive victory in his career and announced his desire to fight for the belt as soon as Patricky Freire recovers from injury.

Which may seem a bit deliberate, because so far he has not fought with any representative of the top 10 rankings.

“I don’t want to make big statements when a person has an injury.

It is not good to call him or insult him in any way.

But I would like to fight for the title.

Patricks, when you're ready, just let me know, ”Usman said in Russian, after which his cousin and trainer Khabib translated.

The main sensation of the tournament was the defeat of the first light weight rating.

Outlaw won 11 of the last 12 fights and had to fight for the belt with the same Freire, but lost to Musaev in 27 seconds.

After the first missed straight, the American's legs buckled, and the second sent him to the canvas.

The main duel of the evening turned out to be far from so sparkling.

Douglas Lima once again demonstrated that he is experiencing tremendous problems in battles with strong fighters and could not do anything with Jason Jackson.

For five rounds, the Jamaican drove the Brazilian on the floor and took the upper hand by decision of the judges.

For the former Bellator champion, this defeat was the fourth in a row.

He last won in October 2019 when he defeated Rory McDonald.