UFC 242: Curtis Blaydes secures impressive win over Shamil Abdurakhimov
On tonight's UFC 242 pay-per-view, Curtis Blaydes made his Octagon return for the first time since March of 2019, as he went head-to-head against Shamil Abdurakhimov at The Arena in Abu Dhabi.
Coming into this fight Blaydes was on the back off a win over Justin Willis from UFC Fight Night 148, whereas, Abdurakhimov complied a three-fight winning streak prior to this fight dropping Chase Sherman, Andrei Arlovski, and Marcin Tybura in his last three Octagon outings.
Starting off the fight, Blaydes dominated Abdurakhimov on the ground and dropped the latter on the mat on numerous occasions, as he started off the first round in a very dominant manner.
Resuming the contest, Blaydes once again got Abdurakhimov down on the ground before bludgeoning him with several elbow shots, as referee Marc Goddard stopped the fight at 2.22 into the round number two.
In his post-fight interview, Blaydes said that he was always confident about his wrestling and better conditioned when compared to Abdurakhimov. Blaydes also further added that he is known for dominating his opponents on the ground for five rounds.
“I knew I was the better wrestler. I knew I was better conditioned. I could have done that for five rounds.
Throughout the fight, Blaydes had several takedowns to his name and engaged in more of a grappling battle with Abdurakhimov. The former's ground game led to Abdurakhimov being suffocated, as Blaydes eventually secured a very impressive win.
As noted, Blaydes also dropped Abdurakhimov with several hard-hitting punches and elbows in the first round, however, the round eventually ended before Blaydes could finish the contest within the first 5 minutes of the fight itself.
Nevertheless, Blaydes was really commanding with his win and it remains interesting to be seen what's next for Razor in the UFC Heavyweight Division.
Check out how dominant Blaydes was over Abdurakhimov: