Umar Nurmagomedov faced some early adversity against newcomer Bezkat Almakhan at UFC Vegas 87, but the undefeated Dagestani standout kept his ‘O’ intact with an otherwise dominant performance.
In the opening minute of his short-notice scrap with Almakhan, Nurmagomedov ate a big looping right hand that sent him crashing to the canvas. An overzealous Almakhan swarmed his opponent, but quickly paid the price as Nurmagomedov was able to use his wrestling to resume and dominate the remaining four minutes of the opening round.
That trend continued for the final two rounds with Nurmagomedov flexing his ground games and landing a series of elbow strikes that had Almakhan bloodied and unable to offer much in the way of offense.