UFC Hamburg Prelims: Damir Hadzovic Outpoints Nick Hein

Caught him again! Right hand this time by @DamirHadzo! #UFCHamburg pic.twitter.com/s8yuuvPLbq

— UFC (@ufc) July 22, 2018

Damir Hadzovic did just enough to eke out a split decision win over local fighter Nick Hein in the UFC Fight Night 134 featured preliminary bout on FS1 Sunday.

The lightweight battle was a gloried kickboxing match the majority of the way, but the Bosnian’s reach and jab was the difference in the duel. Hein was rocked badly and dropped in the third when he walked into a pair of right hooks, but Hadzovic couldn’t out him away. In the end, Hadzovic won by scores of 29-29 (twice) and 28-29.

Related » UFC Hamburg Round-by-Round Scoring

Fabinski Remains Unblemished

Poland’s Bartosz Fabinski remained undefeated inside the Octagon as he was a bit too much for Emil Meek to handle on Sunday.

Fabinski scored takedowns early and often, completely neutralizing the Norseman on the ground. Meek rallied in the first half of the third with punches and elbows as Fabinski gassed out, but “Valhalla” made the mistake of sacrificing his position in the clinch in favor of a kimura off his back. The move backfired and Fabinski rode out the final two minutes of the third to win a unanimous decision. Fabisnki won via tallies of 29-28 (twice) and 30-27.

Narimani Sweeps Taha on the Cards

Nad Narimani was supposed to make his Octagon debut a few months ago against Khalid Taha.

He had to wait until Sunday to do that and the delay paid off for the English fighter as he won a unanimous decision. Narimani took the German down whenever he wanted and controlled the pace of the fight from start to finish. Taha was never in danger of being stopped, but Narimani dominated him inside and out; he won via tallies of 30-27 on all three scorecards.

Rakic Dominates Ledet

Aleksander Rakic dropped down to light heavyweight and it seems like a natural fit for the Austrian kickboxer because he dominated Justin Ledet on Sunday.

The tall Rakic slammed several wicked kicks onto Ledet’s legs early and often, peppered him with punches on the feet and when then duel was on the canvas, Ledet had no answers. Rakic mauled the American from top position for much of the contest, busting up El Blanco’s face and adding lumps to it in several places. Ledet never got anything going and Rakic’s sheer dominance allowed him to walk out of the arena the beneficiary of a lopsided unanimous decision; he won via tallies of 30-25 and 30-24 (twice).

Bermudez Makes it Look Easy

Bantamweight prospect Danny Bermudez (11-0) certainly lived up to his nickname as the unbeaten fighter made quick work of England’s Davey Grant.

Bermudez dropped his foe with a slick right hook to the jaw and from there, he mauled him on the canvas. Bermudez dove onto Grant (10-3), missed a mounted armbar and then switched to a triangle armbar before switching to a more traditional triangle choke. Grant couldn’t escape and quickly was put to sleep, giving the “Bermudez Triangle” a technical submission win in just 59 seconds.

Stosic Catches Kimball

Highly-touted prospect Darko Stosic continued to impress by dispatching veteran fighter Jeremy Kimball (15-8) in the first round.

The Serbian was taken down near the fence, but he immediately swept Kimball. Once he was on top and in control, Stosic (13-1) unloaded a violent storm of elbows to the head. “Grizzly” couldn’t escape and had to be rescued by referee Rich Mitchell. The end came officially at 3:13 of the first.

Liu Denies Stasiak

China’s Pingyuan Liu kicked things off in Hamburg with a solid win over Damian Stasiak.

Liu (12-5) rattled his Polish opponent with a spinning backfist and fended off several takedown attempts throughout their three rounds of action. When the fight wound up on the canvas, the Chinese fighter was as good as Stasiak (10-6) and thwarted all of his opponent’s attacks. In the end, Liu was awarded a unanimous decision with via tallies of 30-27 and 29-28 (twice).