Summary
Raffael Cerqueira before his fight at UFC 308. Photo: Reproduction/UFC
The only Brazilian to perform at UFC Qatar on Saturday afternoon (22), Raffael Cerqueira experienced one of his worst moments as an MMA fighter. The Bahia native was submitted by Swiss fighter Abdul-Rakhman Yakhyaev with a rear-naked choke in just 33 seconds and suffered his fourth defeat in the world's biggest MMA event. His opponent, on the other hand, maintained his undefeated record, which now stands at eight wins and no losses.
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The Brazilian was surprised by the opponent's aggressiveness.
Raffael Cerqueira was defeated at UFC Qatar. Photo: Reproduction/Instagram.
The Swiss fighter went on the offensive against the Brazilian in the opening seconds of the fight with an impressive sequence of strikes. He attacked with a spinning kick and then cornered Cerqueira against the cage, subsequently taking him to the ground with a powerful high kick. While trying to recover, the representative of Galpão da Luta ended up giving up his back, allowing Yakhyaev to lock in a rear-naked choke and force the fighter from Bahia to tap out in just 33 seconds.
Cerqueira, who arrived at the Ultimate undefeated, now has four losses and no wins in the company, with three first-round defeats, so his future in the organization in 2026 seems unlikely.
Islam Makhachev's partner is defeated in a monotonous fight.
Nicolas Dalby in victory at UFC Qatar. Photo: Reproduction/X.
Making his debut in the organization, Saygid Izagakhmaev suffered his first defeat in four years at the hands of Nicolas Dalby , by split decision, in a fight valid for the welterweight category (up to 77,1 kg). With the result, the Dane recovered from two consecutive losses and presented a new reality to the member of the Dagestan Clan.
Large for the category, Dalby's initial strategy consisted of trapping his opponent against the cage, generating boos from the crowd. He tried to take down the Russian, but ended up suffering a counter-attack. Izagakhmaev transitioned to mount, but lost the position near the end of the round.
Aware of how easy it was to change levels, the Dagestani fighter took his opponent down again in the second round. With heavy breathing, Dalby became increasingly vulnerable to Izagakhmaev's physical dominance. Attempting another takedown, the Dane gave up his back and spent the final part of the round controlled by his opponent. The pace remained slow and monotonous in the third round, causing the crowd to shout in protest.
At the end of the 15 minutes, two judges scored 29 to 28 in favor of Dalby, while the other judge awarded the victory by the same score to the Russian.
Asu Almabayev pulls off an impressive comeback in the final round.
Asu Almabayev in victory at UFC Qatar. Photo: Reproduction/X.
In a flyweight bout (up to 56,7 kg), Kazakhstani Asu Almabayev showed great heart by submitting Alex Perez with a guillotine choke in the third round after ten initial minutes of adversity. With this result, he achieved his second consecutive victory in the organization, while the American suffered his second consecutive defeat.
Perez sought to be the aggressor for most of the fight, going towards his opponent with great intensity and landing good punches. After succeeding in the striking exchanges, the American successfully transitioned to grappling on several occasions. In this way, he managed to emerge victorious in the second round after a very balanced initial five minutes.
However, Perez's tendencies and patterns caught Almabayev's attention. The Kazakh fighter managed to time his opponent's approach to connect with good uppercuts and kicks to the midsection. In the opening seconds of the third round, he capitalized on a careless takedown attempt and applied a precise guillotine choke, forcing the former title challenger to tap out.
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