Rafael Fiziev stops Rafael dos Anjos in the fifth round of UFC Vegas 58 main event
Rafael Fiziev defeats former champ
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.
Back to our main event; dos Anjos has gone 2-0 since his return to the lightweight division, while Fiziev has won his last five-straight since losing his UFC debut.
Continue reading to see how this lightweight main event went down:
Official Result: Rafael Fiziev def. Rafael dos Anjos via TKO (punches) at :18 of round five
Both men begin the bout looking to find their range, until dos Anjos shoots on a takedown. He holds Fiziev up against the fence for a time, but is unable to secure it and they’re back to striking range, before the former champion shoots in on another shot, again unsuccessfully.
Fiziev really starts to pick dos Anjos apart throuhjout the second. Dos Anjos shoots on more takedowns, but still to no avail.
Fiziev gets taken down a single time in the third, for a moment, before he’s right back up to his feet.
It’s not often dos Anjos misses this many takedown attempts, he’s really tightened up his wrestling over the years and has become very effective with it.
The former champion has a much better round in the fourth, as he throws a flying knee followed by a couple hard punches that land. He’s also able to secure a double leg and remain on top for the final 80 seconds of the round.
It appears dos Anjos’ experience is doing him well in the latter stages of this fight, himself having gone five rounds a number of times before. This is Fiziev’s first time going five rounds, and he appears to be the more fatigued party of the two.
However, Fiziev lands a thunderous hook on dos Anjos once the fifth round begins and stuns him badly, dropping him to the canvas. One follow up strike is all it took, and Fiziev is the winner in the UFC Vegas 58 main event.
We will say, this stoppage was a tad early.
Nonetheless, Rafael Fiziev is now 12-1 as a professional, and he’s now on a six-fight win streak.
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