UFC Fight Night 136 Prelims: Khalid Murtazaliev Wrecks C.B. Dollaway with Punches

In spite of Herb Dean's attempts to let C.B. Dollaway be a warrior, "The Doberman" cannot continue after a gratuitous second-round beating. Khalid Murtazaliev (14-2) wins his UFC debut, boosting the Russian to 6-1 in his last seven. He has finished 13 of 14 wins by KO. #UFCMoscow pic.twitter.com/Z919CfxpWZ

— Tanuki Usman (@Hamderlei) September 15, 2018

Khalid Murtazaliev took it to C.B. Dollaway for two full rounds in Moscow, landing plenty of damaging kicks and punches to the head and body in the UFC Fight Night 136 preliminary card headliner.

The American latched on a myriad of submission attempts but Murtazaliev (14-2) was able to escape out every one of them. As the second round drew to a close, a gassed out Dollaway turtled up against the cage, allowing the Russian to rain down a storm of punches.

Dollaway eventually was lying in the fetal position, but referee Herb Dean inexplicably allowed the beating to continue until the round ended. Dollaway (17-9) couldn’t get back up to his feet between rounds and Dean called it, ending the fight before the third began.

Yan Outlasts Son

Petr Yan lived up to his nickname by showing “No Mercy” on late replacement opponent Jin Soo Son in a wild bantamweight affair, but it wasn’t easy.

The Russian slammed over a hundred strikes onto Son’s head during their three-round duel, but the South Korean never stopped firing back. Many times in the tussle, Yan (10-1) smashed Son with punches and knees that would have knocked out lesser men, but the fighter simply smiled, laughed and fired back. In the end, Yan won the fight unanimously via tallies of 30-27 (twice) and 29-28; Son fell to 9-3.

Khabilov Edges Johnson

In what was the closest fight of the event thus far, Dagestani lightweight contender Rustam Khabilov eked out a split decision win over Canada’s Kajan Johnson.

“Tiger” had tremendous difficulty early on trying to get inside the long reach of Johnson (23-13-1), but his powerful takedowns eventually reared their heads late. “Buffalo Thunder” rocked Khabilov (23-3) with a knee to the face but it wasn’t enough for the win. Khabilov won the verdict 29-28 (twice) and 28-29.

Taisumov Outpoints Green

Rising lightweight contender Mairbek Taisumov won a unanimous decision over New York’s Desmond Green (21-8) in a fight that was much closer than the official scorecards indicated.

“Beckan” landed the harder punches and kicks throughout the contest, but Green stood in there with him and held his own. “The Predator” seemed to turn the tides in the second by being busier on the feet than the Chechnyan, but all three judges turned in scores of 30-27 for Taisumov, who improved to 27-5.

Ankalaev Dispatches Prachnio

Light heavyweight prospect Magomed Ankalaev was impressive in knocking out Poland’s Marcin Prachnio (13-4) in the first round.

The Dagestani powerhouse took his time with strikes but when he let his hands go, it mattered. Ankalaev (9-1) clobbered Prachnio with a perfectly-timed counter right hook to the jaw and then dropped him with a partially-blocked left head kick. Ankalaev chased his foe to the canvas and slammed two follow-up punches to the head, knocking him out just as referee Herb Dean intervened. The end came officially at 3:09 of the frame.

Johnson Taps Yandiev

Jordan Johnson remained unbeaten by travelling overseas to Russia and putting a beating on Adam Yandiev before submitting him.

Johnson (10-0) used his immense wrestling prowess to take “Beard” down whenever he wanted and delivered a ruthless ground-and-pound attack from on top. Yandiev was never allowed to get anything going offensively and finally bowed out to an arm-triangle choke from top half guard just 42 ticks into the second round. Yandiev, who hadn’t fought since October 2015, dipped to 9-1.

Emeev Dominates Sekulich

Welterweight Ramazan Emeev continued his torrid ascent through the rankings as he dominated last replacement opponent Stefan Sekulich.

“Gorets” rocked the Serbian several times with a sweeping right hand to the head and nullified everything thrown at him against the cage and on the ground. Through it all, Emeev was awarded a unanimous decision win via scores of 30-26, 30-27 and 29-28 to win not only win his seventh consecutive battle, but improve to 18-3. Sekulich fell to 12-3.

Related » UFC Moscow Round-by-Round Scoring

Dvalishvili Claims First Octagon Win

Merab Dvalishvili opened the UFC’s first-ever event in Moscow by dominating American counterpart Terrion Ware.

The Georgian used a strong takedown game to control the pace and whenever he had Ware (17-9) on the ground -- which was often -- he poured on a steady ground-and-pound attack. “Flash” was able to fight his way back up to his feet on numerous occasions, but the lanky bantamweight was never able to get into a rhythm. Dvalishvili (8-4) dominated rounds one and two, nabbing 10-8 scores in both frames, and won a lopsided unanimous decision via tallies of 30-25 across the board.