The UFC 280 tournament in Abu Dhabi has become the most “Russian” in recent years. In the main and preliminary cards, in almost every fight there were fighters related to our country.

A purely Dagestan confrontation took place as part of this event, the result of which raises certain questions. Abubakar Nurmagomedov could well have lost his victory over his fellow countryman due to a dirty blow, but the judges did not punish the representative of the legendary family.

Historic confrontation

Russian mixed martial artist Abubakar Nurmagomedov, unlike his cousin, has not yet achieved serious success in the UFC. For two fights within the framework of the promotion, the 32-year-old athlete has already managed to know the bitterness of defeat. But he still won the last fight against the American Jared Gooden.

Nurmagomedov learned the name of the next opponent in early August. The promotion management decided to bring Abubakar in confrontation with another representative of Dagestan, Gadzhi Omargadzhiev. There has never been such a fight in the history of the UFC, while the “cage” should be divided by two Avars.

Naturally, the fighters were not particularly eager to fight each other, but the long downtime of both of them practically left them no choice. Neither Abubakar nor Gadzhi went on principle and began to prepare for confrontation with each other, perfectly understanding their precarious position in the promotion.

Photo: © Chris Unger / Contributor / UFC / Gettyimages.com

Dirty Knee Kick

The first round of the fight began with a warm welcome, but immediately after it, the fighters hid all friendly feelings far away and did not let them come out until the very end. The opponents started by exchanging low kicks, after which Gadzhi caught the opponent’s head in a guillotine and began to strike with a knee to the head. But Abubakar quickly freed himself from a difficult situation, and the opponents returned to the exchange of blows.

In the middle of the round, the fighters switched to a full-fledged fight on the ground. For more than two minutes, Nurmagomedov was at the top, but Omargadzhiev also felt good at the bottom. He even caught Abubakar on the guillotine, but he did not have enough strength to strangle his opponent.

Nurmagomedov again began the second segment more actively. He delivered several accurate blows, after which he took Gadzhi’s back, forcing him to take a sitting position. At this point, Abubakar began to throw knees to the head, which are prohibited by UFC rules, when the opponent is sitting and touching the canvas with his hand.

The referee immediately stopped the fight and gave Omargadzhiev a break for recovery. A doctor even appeared in the “cage” to check on Gadzhi’s condition. A minute later, the fight continued without punishment from the referee, although Abubakar could well lose one point for this dirty action. You don’t have to look far for examples. In the first fight of the evening, Carol Rosa, in an almost identical situation, was sanctioned by the referee and lost one point. The rest of the round was played in a double-edged confrontation. The initiative changed hands.

In the third segment, Abubakar looked much fresher than his opponent. Gadzhi simply did not have enough “physics” to bring the round to victory. In the second half of the decisive segment, Omargadzhiev stood on his feet with great difficulty, losing his balance several times in a harmless situation. After the final siren, the fighters respectfully thanked each other and began to wait for the announcement of the results.

Open video

After a short meeting of the judges, Bruce Buffer announced Abubakar Nurmagomedov as the winner. All three referees gave the victory to Khabib’s cousin, who was nearby in the octagon and was happy for the winning relative.

But the result could have been completely different if the referee in the ring still removed one point for a knee strike at the beginning of the second round, because two referees gave the victory to Abubakar with a minimum difference of 29:28. It is easy to calculate that if sanctions were applied in the battle, a draw would have been recorded by a majority decision.