ELMONT, NEW YORK - JULY 16: (R-L) Muslim Salikhov of Russia kicks Li Jingliang of China in a strawweight fight during the UFC Fight Night event at UBS Arena on July 16, 2022 in Elmont, New York. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)
Muslim Salikhov batters and TKO’s Andre Fialho at UFC Vegas 65
Muslim Salikhov gets back to his winning ways at UFC Vegas 65
The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to us today, November 19, 2022, for UFC Vegas 65, going down live from the UFC Apex in Enterprise, Nevada. Click here for UFC Vegas 65 results.
Headlining the event was expected to be a pair of heavyweight contenders in no. 7 ranked Derrick Lewis (26-10) and no. 12 ranked Serghei Spivac (15-3). However, Lewis was forced from the bout with undisclosed medical concerns, and the event is now to be headlined by a light-heavyweight affair between Ion Cutelaba (16-8-1) and Kennedy Nzechukwu (10-3).
Our new feature fight of the evening came in the welterweight division between a pair of knockout artists in Andre Fialho (16-5) and Muslim Salikhov (18-3).
Following a unanimous decision defeat to Michel Pereira back in January, Fialho secured back-to-back first round knockout victories in April and May, before being knocked out by Jake Matthews in the second round of their affair back in June.
Salikhov on the other hand was also knocked out in round two of his latest appearance, falling victim to Li Jingliang back in July. But, he went into that bout on a five fight win streak, and he boasts a kickboxing record of 185-13-1.
Continue reading to see how this epic welterweight contest went down:
Official Result: Muslim Salikhov def. Andre Fialho via TKO (spinning wheel kick & punches) at 1:03 of round three
Each man lands a front push kick to begin the bout, both of them being backed up by it, before Fialho starts to walk Salikhov down throwing heavy leather. Salikhov goes for a spinning wheel kick that misses, before landing a spinning back kick to the body.
Fialho’s boxing and cage control is working for him, as it usually does, but Salikhov is able to run the pipe on a single leg and puts Fialho on his back. He doesn’t stay grounded for long however, as Fialho gets back to his feet soon after.
Salikhov lands another nice spinning back kick to the body, Fialho countering it with a beautifully timed and placed right hand that damages Salikhov’s left eye.
Fialho appears to be hindered by all the body kicks from Salikhov, as he’s noticeably slowing down in the second round.
Salikhov takes advantage of this and gets to work, landing a nasty spinning back fist, followed by a front snap kick and spinning wheel kick, all of which landed.
Salikhov then hurts Fialho badly with a superman punch and follows him to the ground with some vicious hammerfists, though Fialho is able to survive the onslaught and make it to the third and final round.
However, Salikhov lands a nasty spinning back kick that drops Fialho to start the third, then lands a spinning wheel kick followed by a two-punch combination and the fight was stopped.
Muslim Salikhov secures the third-round TKO with style 😯 #UFCVegas65
(via @espnmma) pic.twitter.com/EvyMpR1s9m
— MMA Fighting (@MMAFighting) November 19, 2022
Perhaps this being the fifth fight of 2022 for Fialho, just being viciously KO’d back in June, took a lot out of him before even stepping into the cage tonight.
Muslim Salikhov on the other hand still has it; at 38 years of age, he just picked up one of the most impressive victories of his career, TKO’ing a very talented striker to improve his record to 19-3 at UFC Vegas 65.
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