The UFC on ESPN 39 mixed martial arts tournament took place on July 10 in Las Vegas (USA). The top lightweights fought in the main event, and Russian Said Nurmagomedov won on the main card.
Said Nurmagomedov opened as the clear favorite to fight against Brazilian Douglas Silva de Andrade on the back of his bright victory this past January. In the winter, the Russian caught American Cody Stamann in a chokehold at UFC 270, who surrendered in the 47th second of the first round.
Many believe that Nurmagomedov is unfairly absent from the lightest division rankings. He had five fights in the UFC before his fight with de Andrade and had four wins. Usually, the athletes of such level and with a similar record in the strongest league of the world are present in the top-15. But Said isn’t there.
The 37-year-old Brazilian was a tough nut to crack. Nurmagomedov not only failed to finish the fight early, he barely won at all. The fight lasted all three rounds. The Russian won by unanimous decision but didn’t show even 50% of his potential. The surprise was that the Brazilian, who specializes in punching technique, controlled Said on the ground quite well and even made a spectacular throw.
In the second most important fight of the show, Brazilian Caio Borralho gave a masterclass in tactics to Armenian Armen Petrosyan. The fight lasted all three rounds and ended with the victory of the South American prospect.
If an athlete wants to reach the heights of the strongest leagues in the world, it is necessary to improve in all components. A fighter can’t perform decently if he doesn’t know the basics of fighting. That’s what Borralho showed. The Brazilian knew perfectly well that it was very dangerous to fight Petrosian, who came to MMA from kickboxing. That’s why he outplayed the Armenian tactically, had four touchdowns, showed good control of the net, and calmly brought the fight to a unanimous decision. Yes, the fight was not spectacular, but the Brazilian is moving on, and Petrosian will have to work on his mistakes. Let’s wait, when we again will be able to watch their new fights via betting mobile, we will see which way the fighters will go in their professional improvement.
Only a few reach heights in the UFC without serious wrestling skills. But then you have to be an excellent tactician like Israel Adesanya or have a crazy punch like Francis Ngannou.
