Aiemann Zahabi out-strikes Ricky Turcios to UD victory at UFC Vegas 58
The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to us tonight, July 9, 2022, for UFC Vegas 58, going down live from the UFC Apex in Enterprise, Nevada.
Headlining the event is a pair of ranked lightweights in former UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos (no. 7) and multi-time kickboxing world champion Rafael Fiziev (no. 10).
Co-headlining is a middleweight showcase between relative unknown talents Caio Borralho and Armen Petrosyan.
Our second bout on the main card came in the bantamweight division between Aiemann Zahabi, brother of perhaps the greatest coach in the sport, Firas Zahabi, and his opponent, The Ultimate Fighter 29 winner Ricky Turcios.
This will be Turcios’ sophomore effort in the promotion, being the first time, he’s competed since winning The Ultimate Fighter back in August of last year, and Zahabi hasn’t competed since February of 2021, where he was victorious via first round KO.
Continue reading to see how this bantamweight encounter went down:
Official Result: Aiemann Zahabi def. Ricky Turcios via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Turcios opens up the bout throwing some nice feints throughout the first round, which set up some of his punches and kicks. Zahabi on the other hand is doing a good job of circling the outside and landing his kicks to the leg and body of Turcios.
Turcios is having a hard time finding his range in the second and doesn’t really come alive until the final ten seconds. He isn’t fighting at the pace we all know he can, while Zahabi picks him apart with kicks from the outside.
Zahabi is able to frustrate Turcios further into the third, as Turcios’ striking accuracy was counted at 13% with just one minute left in the bout. It appears his layoff may have affected his timing a bit, though the same couldn’t be said for Zahabi.
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