Khadis Ibragimov ducked what sure looked like an incoming head kick from Roman Dolidze in the first round of their fight Saturday.
Dolidze (7-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC), however, had other plans. The light heavyweight out of the Republic of Georgia turned what looked like a head kick into a knee on the drop of a dime. Ibagimov (8-3 MMA, 0-3 UFC), for his part, put his face right in the path of the knee, and that ended the fight pretty much on the spot.
It went into the books as a TKO at the 4:15 mark of the first round for Dolidze in the featured preliminary bout of UFC on ESPN+ 30 at Flash Forum at Yas Island in Abu Dhabi.
And it made for one impressive debut for Dolidze, who has finishes in all seven of his professional fights.
For his part, Dolidze said Ibgragimov mad-dogged him at Friday’s weigh-ins, which inspired him to come up with something extra special for the fight.
“I’m very happy,” Dolidze said. “It was a good, tough opponent, but I don’t like when someone looks at me like he did yesterday. Big mistake.”
You can check out Dolidze’s handiwork in the video below (via Twitter):
