UFC Vegas 49: Islam Makhachev Steamrolls Bobby Green With First Round TKO
Islam Makhachev continues to dominate.
This time, he dominated Bobby Green in the main event of UFC Vegas 49 via first-round TKO. This fight was supposed to be held between Makhachev, the No. 4 ranked contender, and Beneil Dariush, who is on the No. 3 spot in the lightweight rankings, but Dariush suffered injury and was forced to be out of the battle.
Green took this fight on two weeks short notice, just a week after his brutal fight, and shared the cage with Dagestan fighter.
Green fighting with his hands down, as he usually does. However, it took only around for Makhaxhev to earn another first-round victory, after serving severe punches for the ground, to “Bobby Knuckles.”
In the co-main event, Brazilian fighter Wellington Turman proved he is one of the most dangerous submission artists.
In the first round, he had the opportunity of winning the fight from Misha Cirkunov’s back. However, Cirkunov finished the first round with massive ground and pound, and bookmakers thought Brazil’s chances were over since live odds were too high for him.
However, in the second round, Turman did a great job finishing his rival via arm-bar as soon as he closed the guard.
One of the best fights of the night was held between two rising prospects, Armen Petrosyan and Gregory Rodrigues.
Petrosyan tried to break Rodrigues from the outside by changing levels with his kicks. He was damaging his body legs and was mixing high kicks too.
Petrosyan landed 20 more significant strikes in the first round, but the Brazilian fighter’s punches were way harder.
In the second round, Rodrigues could finish the fight several times, but still, Rodrigues managed to survive from amazing stuns submission attempts and fought back with combinations.
In the third round, Petrosyan forced his rival to go back, and they changed the roles since the Armenian fighter started controlling the center. Petrosyan earned a split decision victory with 29-28, 28-29, and 30-27.
Arman Tsarukyan earned an amazing victory against another rising prospect from Spanish Joel Alvarez.
In the very first round, Tsarukyan landed a massive elbow and Alvarez was bleeding very badly.
In the second round, one punch was enough for the Armenian fighter to make Alvarez blind with his own blood. The referee stopped the fight in the second round, and Tsarukyan earned a TKO victory.
Tsarukyan’s only loss in the UFC is against Makhachev.
The commentary team knew the end was near when this elbow landed 😳 #UFCVegas49 pic.twitter.com/3ATFeBQAoa
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) February 27, 2022
Check out the rest of the card down below:
- Islam Makhachev def Bobby Green KO/TKO, 3:23 R1
- Wellington Turman def Misha Cirkunov Sub, 1:29 R2
- P. Cachoeira def Ji Yeon Kim Unanimous Dec
- Arman Tsarukyan def Joel Alvarez KO/TKO, 1:57 R2
- Armen Petrosyan def Gregory Rodrigues Split Dec
- I. Bahamondes def Zhu Rong Sub, 1:40 R3
- Josiane Nunes def Ramona Pascual Unanimous Dec
- Terrance McKinney def Fares Ziam Sub, 2:11 R1
- Jonathan Martinez def Alejandro Perez Unanimous Dec
- Ramiz Brahimaj def Micheal Gillmore Sub, 2:02 R1
- Carlos Hernandez def Victor Altamirano Split Dec