Raffael Cerqueira was knocked out in the first round by Modest Bukauskas. Photo: Reproduction/Instagram.
The Brazilian Raffael Cerqueira was defeated by the Lithuanian Modest Bukauskas in the first fight of UFC Seattle, this Saturday (22), in a duel valid for the light heavyweight category (up to 93 kg), with a knockout in the first round. This was the second consecutive defeat for the Bahian, who arrived at Ultimate undefeated in October 2024 and has not yet achieved a victory in the organization.
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Cerqueira could not resist the opponent's attacks
In the first moments of the fight, the Brazilian chose to avoid more open exchanges and move laterally, walking, while landing good kicks to the legs. His opponent, on the other hand, was quite aggressive and from the first second he started moving forward with good punch combinations.
Just before the clock hit two minutes into the fight, Cerqueira landed two straight right hands in a row, his best strikes of the fight. However, a few seconds later he was stunned by a left-handed cross and after suffering a violent barrage of punches against the fence, he was unable to resist and ended up being knocked out at two minutes and 12 seconds into the first round.
Starting the night off with a BANG @BalticGladiator gets the first round KO at #UFCSeattle! pic.twitter.com/6YHHY5VwqV
- UFC (@ufc) February 22, 2025
In the interview with Michael Bisping Inside the Octagon, Bukauskas dedicated the triumph to a friend who recently passed away. He also briefly highlighted that the strategy to connect the left cross was drawn up after observing Cerqueira's reaction patterns.
Nursulton Ruziboev finds his way back to victory
Medium hair (up to 83,9 kg.), Nursulton Ruziboev faced the newcomer Eric McConicoThe initial round was characterized by a lot of studying and striking between the two fighters. Ruziboev attempted a takedown, but McConico managed to avoid it by leaning his back against the cage.
But in the second round things were different. Right at the beginning, McConico felt the heavy hand of his opponent and then what we saw was a series of frustrating attempts by the North American, having his attempts to get up frustrated by a rain of punches from Ruziboev, who saw his victory by knockout after the referee stopped him at 33 seconds.
It wasn't the debutant's day, but it was redemption for Ruziboev, who was coming off a defeat against Joaquim Buckley after starting in the organization with two victories.
Check out the results from UFC Seattle
MAIN CARD (23pm Brasília time)
Bantam weight (up to 61,2 kg): song yadong derrotou Henry Cejudo by technical decision (finger in the eye – 29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
Average weight (up to 83,9 kg): anthony hernandez derrotou Brendan allen by unanimous decision of the judges (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Combined weight (up to 63,5 kg.): Rob font derrotou Jean Matsumoto by split decision of the judges (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Featherweight (up to 65,7 kg): Jean Silva derrotou Melsik Baghdasaryan by knockout (punches) at 4m15sec of R1
Light heavyweight (up to 93 kg.): Alonzo Menifield defeated Julius Walker by split decision of the judges (29-28, 30-27, 28-29)
PRELIMINARY CARD (20pm Brasília time)
Light heavyweight (up to 93 kg.): Ion cutelaba derrotou Ibo Aslan by submission (katagatame) at 2m9sec of R1
Featherweight (up to 65,7 kg): Melquizael Costa derrotou André Fili by submission (guillotine) at 4m30sec of R1
Average weight (up to 83,9 kg): Mansur Abdul-Malik defeated Nick Klein by KO (punches) at 3:24 of R2
Bantam weight (up to 61,2 kg): Ricky simon derrotou Javid Basharat by knockout (punches) at 3m58sec of R1
Combined weight (up to 77,1 kg.): Austin vanderford derrotou Nikolay Veretennikov by knockout (punches) at 4m13sec of R2
Average weight (up to 83,9 kg): Nursulton Ruziboev derrotou Eric McConico by knockout (punches) at 33sec of R2
Light heavyweight (up to 93 kg.): Modest Bukauskas derrotou Raffael Cerqueira by knockout (punches) at 2m12sec of R1
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