Denis Tyulyulin was supposed to take part in the UFC Vegas 58 tournament, where American Jamie Picket was waiting for him. But on the scheduled date of July 10, this fight will not take place. Due to a rib injury, the Russian will not be able to appear in the octagon – the fight has been postponed until at least September.

The 34-year-old fighter is not the first to recover from powerful blows. Once an opponent inflicted serious damage on him – a missed attack did not allow Tyulyulin to continue the fight. The judges recognized Denis as the winner, although he did not last 20 seconds in the octagon.

The controversial victory is still controversial.

A duel without a reason

Russian Denis Tyulyulin, who recently reached the strongest fighting organization in the world, does not have the most impressive record. He has nine wins and six losses to his credit. In fact, in the octagon he was declared the winner 10 times, but popular statistical databases, like the same Sherdog, stubbornly do not want to see one Russian win – over Ukrainian Eduard Malkov.

Denis Tyulyulin / Photo: © Mike Roach / Contributor / UFC / Gettyimages.com

Looking for some special background, however, is hardly worth it. Moreover, Malkov is recognized as a Ukrainian only by statistical portals. The native of Donetsk, who is the master of sports of Russia in combat sambo, did not take the yellow-blue flag with him into the octagon. At a particular tournament, where Eduard opposed Tyulyulin, he was even listed as a fighter from the DPR.

The main event of the ProFC 64 tournament in Rostov-on-Don, which took place in December 2017, was the title fight between Gusein Gadzhiev and Vladimir Kanunnikov, which ended in the victory of the latter. A little earlier, two welterweights entered the octagon – Denis Tyulyulin and Eduard Malkov. At the time of the fight, Denis had not the most impressive record in mixed martial arts – four wins and two losses. His opponent was undefeated, though he had only fought one fight before that.

Doubtful victory

Before the start of the fight, the referee traditionally asked to show a beautiful fight, not to hit the back of the head and spine, not to grab the shorts. He decided not to remind about the ban on blows below the belt, but in vain. The fight of dubious beauty lasted only 20 seconds. During this time, Tyulyulin tried a couple of times to hit with his hands and performed one attempt at a low kick. These attempts did not cause any serious damage to the opponent. But Malkov’s first attack essentially made it impossible for the fighter from Moscow to continue the fight. The body kick was executed clearly, only the blow fell on the opponent in the groin.

Tyulyulin instantly sank onto the floor, the torment of the fighter was accompanied by silence – the audience was silent in confusion. Malkov felt ashamed, he, feeling guilty, tried to express support and even awkwardly stroked his opponent on the back. But the referee immediately took the representative of Donetsk aside and showed the violator a yellow card.

This did not make Denis feel better, he continued to lie motionless until the judge began to bring him to his senses. Knocking down the pain with blows to the heels, he slightly eased the suffering of Tyulyulin. Where the specialized medical workers were at that time, one could only guess.

The organizers tried to shade the awkward moment by turning on the musical accompaniment. In the end, Tyulyulin was raised to his feet, but he was unable to continue the fight. The judges deliberated for a long time, not knowing what to do. As a result, they agreed on the disqualification of Malkov and gave the victory to Denis. It was more logical to recognize the meeting as failed – too little time has passed since the beginning of the fight. Most likely, for this reason, the disputed victory of the Russian is not taken into account on popular statistical portals.

Tyulyulin himself, after a dubious success, did not beam with joy. Holding on to the place affected by the impact, he hurried to leave the octagon. Ring announcer Alexander Zagorsky tried to stop Denis and asked for a comment, but the fighter just brushed it off, ignoring this request.