An eye poke, finishes, and a dominant main event win for Imavov.
The UFC main card for fight night 03/02 was filled with young hungry fighters trying to make their mark on the UFC roster and set up the future of their respective division. Charles Radtke and Randy Brown pick up first-round TKOs while two fighters in the top 15 pick up hard-fought decision wins in Nassourdine Imavov and Renato Moicano. An 11-second no-contest was called after Makhmud Muradov landed a very brutal eye poke on Aliaskhab Khizriev that stopped the fight as he could not continue.
Gilbert Urbina vs Charles Radtke lived up to be the striker’s delight it was hyped up to be. These men stepped into the cage and did not disappoint ANYBODY. While only fighting one round Charles pushed the pace and landed 30 significant strikes standing in a phone booth and getting the finish he was looking for. Radtke now on a 4 fight-winning streak has to be hoping for a bigger name in the 185-pound division and wants to show his electrifying stand and bang. Not much to say about the no-contest between Aliaskhab Khizriev and Makhmud Muradov other than that was a brutal eye poke and I would wonder if Khizriev would even want a rematch.
In the contest between Viviane Araujo and Natalia Silva, both women stood in the pocket and traded shots, with both landing a high percent of stricks with each woman also landing 60 plus strikes overall. For all three rounds, these two warriors left it all out there and were toe to toe in just about every aspect…. but one, the takedown defense for SIlva was outstanding stopping all but 1 takedown on 9 attempts. The way she would use this defense to get the very small space needed for her speedy punches and kicks is ultimately what led her to get a unanimous decision. Natalia should be shooting for one of the four women above her like Erin Blanchfield vs Manon Fioriot or Katlyn Chookagian vs Maycee Barber.
Winning Performance of the night was Randy Brown who showcased elite striking that looked like it could compete with anyone in the Welterweight division. Speed, elusiveness with his head, and confident striking are all the things I saw from Randy Brown who didn’t give Muslim Salikhov a chance to give much back in return. While the fight might not have been the most interesting at certain points, all of Brown’s strikes landed were significant strikes. With Sean Brady pulling out against Vicent Luque try to slide in and get a rematch maybe get it moved to UFC 300.
The co-main event of this card featured top 15 ranked lightweight fighters Renato Moicano and Drew Dober who both were looking to get a big win against a ranked opponent. While the fight might have been a little one-sided at times, Moicano dominated this fight with his grappling limiting Dober to only landing 36 strikes while having over 10 minutes of control time in a 15-minute fight giving him the decision victory. Landing most of his shots in close on the ground, Moicano showed he is an elite grappler that needs some more respect while Dober once again showed susceptibility to a more dominant grappler. I would LOVE to see Moicano get a big-name fight like the aging Beniel Dariush, I will say a more realistic fight would be Jalin Turner who would be a very interesting opponent giving Turners a bigger frame as well.
Having an overall dominating fight and exceptional start to the fight Nassourdine Imavov had what would have been a unanimous decision if it wasn’t for a point deduction in the third round from a grounded head kick landed on Dolidze. Imavov almost had a first-round finish landing 51 significant strikes after dropping Dolidze with a furious right hand. From that point on Dolidze showed signs of staging a comeback even winning across the cards in round 2 but ultimately Imavov’s offense pressure overloaded the Georgian native and he cruised to a victory. Imavov was yelling and arguing with a teammate of Roman Dolidze, Chris Curtis who was part of a no-contest with the Russian-born striker. Even after that though Imavov was quick to call out other teammate and former champ Sean Strickland who also fought Imavov but very decisively won in the main event. I think the matchup with Strickland would be a great rematch, if Sean wins he proves the win wasn’t due just to short notice and Imavov would be looking to prove the opposite.
