Ramazonbek Temirov radiates a heat that makes others sleepless at night.
The Uzbek prospect has significantly secured his entry into the Ultimate Fighting Championship flyweight division by pummeling CJ Vergara with punches in the prelims of the highly anticipated UFC Fight Night 244 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday. It was announced with great force. Vergara (12-6-1, 3-4 UFC) met his end 2 minutes and 50 seconds into round one.
Temirov (16-2-1, 1-0 UFC) tested the waters with a few spinning back kicks to the body while throwing power punches. He floored Vergara with a left hook and followed up with follow-up punches, dropping Pete Spratt’s protégé a second time with a club over the top. Temirov kept his foot on the gas pedal, got his opponent to his feet, and finished the fight with a hard left hook to the body.
Temirov, 27, is currently on a 10-fight winning streak.
Meanwhile, former Cage Fury Fighting Championship titleholder Pat Sabatini defeated Jonathan Pearce with a standing rear-naked choke in the first round of their featherweight bout. Pearce (14-7, 5-3 UFC) surrendered 4:06 into the first round, suffering his third loss of the fight.
Sabatini (19-5, 6-2 UFC) closes the distance with a body kick and scrambles behind Contender Series alum Dana White, giving him no time to breathe, much less operate. I didn’t give it. They separated for a moment, but Pearce got a double leg takedown. Sabatini fell back again and threw a flurry of short punches while his opponent stood and attempted a choke with an arm choke. Pierce momentarily struggled to free himself, but then bowed out.
This was Sabatini’s eighth first-round finish in his career.
In other matches, Extreme Couture’s Themba Golimbo used repeated takedowns, consistent ground-and-pound and stifling top control to earn a unanimous decision over Niko Price in three rounds at welterweight. . All three cageside judges gave the fight the same score, 30-27 for Golimbo (14-4, 4-1 UFC).
The aggressive Price (16-8, 8-0 UFC) was never able to step up a gear. Golimbo continued to keep him off balance with a steady diet of kicks to the underside of the lead leg, clean one-twos, and occasional dirty boxing combinations. He dominated Price in the final two rounds with takedowns and positional advances, racking up points with his punches while carving out valuable time.
Golimbo, 33, has won four straight.
Further down the undercard, Soma Fight Club product Junior Tafa punched away promotional newcomer Sean Sharaf in the second round of a heavyweight tilt. Sharaf (4-1, 0-1 UFC), who was given late notice to replace Chris Barnett, succumbed to the blows 2:15 into the second round.
Tafa (6-3, 2-3 UFC) managed to overcome some rough waters. Sharaf capped off a back-and-forth first round with a near finish, securing a takedown, climbing to full mount and tearing him apart with punches and elbows in the final seconds. Tafa survived and let exhaustion take over. Sharaf had nothing left in the tank until the middle stanza. Tafa cornered him with punches, followed by a triple right uppercut that pinned the exhausted Extreme Couture representative to the fence and teed him off. A barrage of punches went unanswered, but was replaced by a final uppercut before the stoppage was called.
With this victory, Tafa’s losing streak ended at two.
Finally, MMA Lab’s undefeated prospect Clayton Carpenter put Lucas Rocha to sleep with a rear-naked choke in the second round of the flyweight pairing. Rocha (17-2, 0-1 UFC) was defeated 2 minutes and 12 seconds into the second round, suffering his first setback in about five years.
Carpenter (8-0, 2-0 UFC) scored a takedown within the first 90 seconds, went from favorable situation to favorable situation, and suffered multiple cuts, one of which was above the Brazilian’s left eye. ) with a slashing elbow. Rocha was successfully acquitted, but could not stay upright. Carpenter landed a blasting double leg early in the second round, went to the back, secured position with a body triangle, and secured a choke to end the fight.
Carpenter, 28, defeated six of his first eight opponents, winning four of them by submission.
In other bouts, former Hex Fight Series champion Cody Haddon (8-1, 1-0 UFC) takes on overweight Dan Argueta (9-3, 1-0 UFC) in a three-round bantamweight bout. He defeated UFC (3 wins, 3 losses) by unanimous decision and earned 30 points. -27 points on all three scorecards. Giulia Polastri (13-4, 1-1 UFC) suddenly appeared in place of Poliana Viana and won a split decision ( 29-28, 28-29, 30-27). 3-3 UFC) Women’s strawweight 3 round match.
