Azamat Murzakanov remains undefeated, defeats Dustin Jacoby at UFC on ESPN 44
The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to us tonight, April 15, 2023, for UFC on ESPN 44, going down live from the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri.
Headlining the event is a matchup of featherweight contenders, as former champion Max Holloway (23-7) faces no. 4 ranked Arnold Allen (19-1) in the main event of the evening.
Co-headlining the event is also a featherweight contest, this one between coming Edson Barboza (22-11) and Billy Quarantillo (17-4).
Our feature fight of the evening came at 205 lbs between Dustin Jacoby (18-6-1) and Azamat Murzakanov (12-0).
Jacoby had gone 6-1-1 since returning to the UFC, only losing a heavily disputed split decision to Khalil Rountree in his latest appearance, while Murzakanov had gone 2-0 thus far into his promotional tenure, securing both wins via third-round knockout.
Continue reading to see how this light-heavyweight contest went down:
Official Result: Azamat Murzakanov def. Dustin Jacoby via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Murzakanov opens up the bout looking very sharp on the feet. He’s tagging Jacoby ip badly with his hands, busting his nose up with explosive punches. He drops Jacoby midway through the round with one of them and continues to out-strike him throughout it.
Jacoby is known for his striking, but he got worked in those first five minutes.
Round two was much closer than the first, up until the final 15 seconds came. Murzakanov is still winning the striking exchanges early on, until Jacoby ties up with him and presses him into the fence.
Murzakanov begins to slow down in the final two or so minutes and Jacoby is starting to look better. That is until Murzakanov lands a thunderous left hand that drops Jacoby, who returns to his feet but is immediately dropped with another.
After returning to his feet once again, Jacoby continues to eat those back-to-back-to-back left hands until the buzzer sounds.
Jacoby has a great third and final round, as he’s really able to take advantage of the fatiguing Murzakanov. The only problem is he initiates a number of grappling exchanges toward the end, and though he does secure a couple takedowns, that’s not what he needed to do to win the fight and it cost him.
Jacoby was probably winning the second up until he got hurt badly at the end of the round, but after dropping the first two he needed a finish in the final five minutes and it just didn’t come.
Azamat Murzakanov keeps his undefeated record at UFC on ESPN 44.
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