The participation of famous MMA fighters in fights according to the rules of boxing has not surprised anyone for a long time.

Such stars as Conor McGregor, Anderson Silva, Vitor Belfort, Frank Mir, Mark Hunt, Tyron Woodley and Ben Askren tried themselves in a new incarnation.

Magomed Ismailov and Ivan Shtyrkov were no exception.

At the same time, their confrontation aroused increased interest for several reasons at once.

Firstly, the Bald Predator, whose strength has always been considered a fight, last year showed himself great in a new look.

In February, he turned out to be stronger than the ex-contender for the world title Olanrevaju Durodola, and in October he left no chance to Alexander Ilic, who shortly before inflicted a painful defeat on Alexander Shlemenko.

In addition, Magomed seriously added to the functional readiness.

Secondly, the Ural Hulk was able to shock the opponent, although he had previously held only one fight in boxing - in the summer of 2022, he defeated Ivan Smirnov by decision of the judges.

But he is a pronounced puncher, who won almost half of his victories in mixed martial arts by knockout.

Thirdly, the fans were waiting for revenge, because the opponents had already met in MMA in 2020, and then Ismailov won a landslide victory by unanimous decision.

Now Shtyrkov had the opportunity to take revenge both on "his own territory" - in the stand, and in his hometown.

At the same time, both athletes, as expected, treated each other with emphatic respect and joked only kindly.

Of course, this component was dominated by a Dagestani.

For example, during a press conference a week before the meeting, he treated the opponent to buns and cream soup.

Magomed explained his behavior by the fact that it was not easy for Ivan to meet the required limit of up to 93 kg, and therefore he needed to refresh himself.

At the same time, he admitted that he was afraid of the skills of the Ural Hulk in percussion technique.

“It feels like, according to the rules of boxing, it will be more dangerous, because in MMA I proceeded from my wrestling qualities ... Most of the time the fight was in the stance, but there were also legs.

Now we have one floor.

If something goes wrong, then you won’t go through your legs and you won’t kick, ”the fighter said in an interview with Sport-Express.

In turn, Shtyrkov promised to work as the first number and, if possible, not allow the opponent to demonstrate his trademark speed in the first rounds.

In fact, Ivan's plan did not work.

After the entire distance of the fight, it’s even difficult to say how he was going to win.

Ismailov seized the initiative from the first minutes and went forward.

Although the attacks of the Bald Predator for professional boxing looked funny, but they achieved their goal.

Bending forward a little, he literally turned on the branded “mill” and regularly hit his opponent.

In the first rounds, Shtyrkov still counterattacked quite well.

In addition, he received a slight advantage due to the height and length of his arms and was able to keep the Dagestani at a distance.

But he quite easily tore it apart, threw out multi-hit series, and then timely went back, not allowing the opponent to respond.

Throughout the fight, Ismailov looked much faster.

Against the backdrop of the slow Ural Hulk, he seemed to flutter over the ring.

For Ivan, with each three-minute segment, it became more and more difficult to turn on the speed.

As in many previous meetings, he had problems with stamina, although the fighter from Yekaterinburg, with the support of his fans, held out until the final gong.

He also did not cause serious damage to the opponent, with the exception of a bruise under his eye and a small cut on his head.

There was not a single episode when a formidable knockout could end the fight ahead of schedule.

But even with the participation of Magomed, it is difficult to remember the truly dangerous moments.

He worked more on the floors, systematically gaining points.

Although he brought several unpleasant left straight lines to his opponent, he survived.

At the end of the confrontation, the athletes hacked to death with the last of their strength, arranged an exchange of powerful shots.

Perhaps if something similar happened in the opening, one of them could fall to the floor.

And so none of those present in the hall had any doubts that the victory would be given to the Bald Predator.

It is all the more surprising that one of the judges counted a draw - 57:57.

But the other two recorded a convincing advantage of the guest - 60:54, 59:55.

To Magomed's credit, he did not immediately begin to celebrate his success, but first hurried to console the fighter he had defeated.

He approached him and raised his hand up, and then said with a laugh: “But they say friends don’t fight.

How they fight!”

And only after that the Dagestani gave vent to his emotions.

Grabbing the microphone from the hands of the presenter, he jokingly shouted to the fans: “Hey, where did you go?

So, are you ready to look only at how we hit each other?

Then he once again supported his comrade, declaring that there is no loser in this duel, but there are two winners.

“If there were eight rounds, we would have fought him for eight rounds.

He felt really good, and so did I.

We fought like that.

I said it would.

When you try to put strength into every blow, you give your best somewhere.

Thank you for this top support.

I shouted and fought until melted, ”Ismailov emphasized.

Shtyrkov was very upset by the failure.

It was felt that he was extremely disappointed with his work.

Ivan even hastened to leave the ring without waiting for questions, but the opponent stopped him.

The fighter found the strength to joke and said that he might still fight with a colleague in other sports - billiards, volleyball or football.

In summary, the Bald Predator at the age of 36 raised his shares in boxing even more, because in just over a year he won three confident victories, although he never achieved a knockout.

And most importantly, he again demonstrated good endurance.

Unlike his opponent, Magomed calmly worked all 18 minutes and went forward to the end.

Now he has the right to expect even more interesting and financially advantageous offers.

And in mixed martial arts, a rematch with Alexander Shlemenko can await him.

Ismailov can only choose the best and enjoy what is happening.