Sanabul Fight News: UFC Vegas 58
The battle of Rafael’s was set for July 9th 2022, and was a real test of contenders in the lightweight division, with Fiziev being the new up and coming prospect, and Dos Anjos the legend looking to save his spot as a contender in a very competitive division of killers.
Ronnie Lawrence and Saidyokub Kakhramonov was a very important matchup in the bantamweight division, between two extremely skilled up and coming prospects in the division. Saidyokub ended up winning a unanimous decision using his advantage on the ground, even winning a 30-26 on one of the judges' scorecards. I would look for Saidyokub to join the top 15 soon, and Ronnie Lawrence to hit the drawing board and come back better than ever.
Kennedy Nzechukwu and David Onama got finishes of their own to move up the rankings in their respective divisions. Kennedy got the TKO finish over Karl Roberson in the light heavyweight division in round three to move himself up to 10-3. David Onama proved himself as a dangerous up and comer with another finish to move himself up to 10-1 after an arm triangle finish in the second round over Garrett Armfield.
Cody Brundage and Jamie Mullarkey took wins of their own in the middleweight and lightweight division. Cody Brundage was taking on Tresean Gore, who is a very interesting prospect coming out of the most recent season of TUF, and ended up knocking him out in the first round. Brundage impressed many and moved up to 8-2 on Saturday night. Jamie Mullarkey was the favorite against Michael Johnson in this matchup, Johnson coming off an amazing finish in his last fight was looking to continue on this little hot streak he was going on as a veteran of the division. Mullarkey ended up winning a split decision on the judges scorecards, moving up to 15-5 as a pretty dangerous prospect in a stacked decision.
Aiemann Zahabi, Chase Sherman and Said Nurmagomedov all got wins of their own and impressed many on Saturday night. Zahabi and Said both earned unanimous decision wins with disciplined victories where they proved their skills and well-rounded martial arts games, I would look for both to continue to face better competition and prove their spots in the division. Chase Sherman ended up getting a finish as the underdog in his heavyweight bout against Jared Vanderaa in the third round, which is surprising as normally we don’t see late finishes from heavyweights as they tend to gas out quicker than most weight classes. This moves Chase Sherman to 16-10 and Vanderaa to 12-9.
Caio Borralho is an extremely talented middleweight prospect graduate from Dana White’s Contender Series, and was highly anticipated by fans in his first real test against the dangerous Armen Petrosyan. Borralho showed his grappling expertise on Saturday night and dominated Armen Petrosyan to a decision victory, showing how skilled and technical he is on the mat, as well as being able to demonstrate a solid game plan to come out with the win.
Rafael Fiziev competed in his first main event, first 5 round fight, and his biggest test against veteran Rafael Dos Anjos, who is a very important test for any lightweight being so well-rounded in all departments of the sport. Two of the judges had Fiziev up going into the fifth round, with one judge having the two men tied at the beginning of the fifth. Fiziev came out guns blazing in the final round and ended up knocking Dos Anjos out to really solidify himself as a contender for the title in the lightweight division. I would say a matchup to be made next would be with Michael Chandler or with Justin Gaetje to get himself into a spot for a potential title eliminator.
