Fábio Maldonado loses Fight Nights belt after being knocked out by Nikita Krylov

N. Krylov left the UFC in 2016 after losing to M. Cirkunov. Photo: Facebook/Fight Nights Global

After many reschedulings, the fight between the champion, Fábio Maldonado and Nikita Krylov for the Fight Nights Global light heavyweight belt (93 kg) took place on Saturday (19) in Rostov, Russia. The former UFC fighters met in the co-main event. With a knockout at 3:32 in the second round, Krylov beat the Brazilian and took the belt.

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Nikita Krylov 26-year-old left the UFC in 2016 after a loss to Misha Cirkunov. He beat Brazilians Marcos 'Pezão' and Francimar 'Bodão' in 2015.

PUBLICITY:

FNG 87 also had the presence of Brazilians: Adriano Martins who was defeated by Russian Alexandr Shabliy by unanimous decision of the judges; Elias Silvério beat Saygid Izagakhmaev also by unanimous decision. He has an undefeated streak of three fights.

The fight

At the beginning of the fight, the 'Caipira de Aço' took a low blow that stopped the fight. The Brazilian returned to the duel, but was dominated by Krylov.

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In the second round, Maldonado was placed on the cage and received a right cross to the chin and fell unconscious. The Brazilian is known for his tough chin and had only been knocked out like that by Stipe Miocic, current UFC heavyweight champion.

🔥▶Knockout of the night? Fabio Maldonado vs. Nikita Krylov @KrylovUFC pic.twitter.com/NcxVc64jOU

— FIGHT NIGHTS GLOBAL (@fngmma) 19 May 2018

PUBLICITY:

Unfortunately I was knocked out in the second round, I'm sorry my friends, fans, family and anyone else if I disappointed you, I was kicked in the testicles 16 seconds into the fight, I had 5 minutes to wait, I might not have come back, I won the same money and the fight would become “no result” we thought it would be better to go back, so far I don't know if I did the right thing, we are going to the airport, on Monday I'm in Sorocaba, I thank God for the opportunity to be able to work with what I love do, but today is a day that I'm late, I don't know what else to say, I'm sorry guys. Stay with God….

A publication shared by fabio maldonado (@fabiomaldonado2017) on May 19, 2018 at 3:36 am PDT