Israeli 18-year-old fighter Aviv Gozali improved his professional record to 3-0 this weekend with a record-breaking, 11-second submission win against Eduard Muravitskiy at Bellator 225.
The win, though, came after a show of respect that Muravitskiy almost certainly regrets in hindsight.
It happens relatively often in MMA: Fighters tap gloves after the opening bell and then proceed on with the fight. It’s good sportsmanship, but not every fighter does it. Muravitskiy was prepared to do that with the young fighter, gesturing his glove towards Gozali for a tap.
The problem was that Gozali had no intention of honoring that gesture at all. He came flying out of the gates and took down Muravitskiy into a heel hook. Just like that … the fight was over.
According to the broadcast, the move was something that Gozali had worked on with the specific plan of going for the submission win immediately. That possibly explained why he didn’t pay any mind to the glove-touch gesture — he was simply locked in for that rehearsed move.
It was reminiscent of Jorge Masvidal’s five-second UFC 239 win over Ben Askren.
