Islamic Duratov was offered as one of his biggest favorites at UFC 318 after flattening Adam Hugit with a brutal first round knockout to close out his early qualifying round on Saturday.
Duratov, who became a fighter, showed that he had quite a hand after dropping Fugitt with a perfectly timed check hook. As soon as Fugitt hit the canvas, Dulatov followed him, dropping down two more devastating punches in a row.
Fugitt’s head bouncing off the canvas and the judge stopped the fight at 4:06 in the opening round with an end at 4:06.
With an important photo shoot scheduled for Monday, Duratov is pleased to have walked out of UFC 318 unharmed.
“I always said I’d go KO,” Duratov said after his latest victory. “Twelve fights, 12 finishes. Certainly, I look like a good person. I can do that (modeling) work.”
Duratov came into the battle after his outstanding performance in the Dana White contender series, but he was not disappointed. From the jump, Duratov showed off his fast hands and nasty powers, and fugitt slowed his opponent down, struggling to produce many attacks other than repeatedly trying to push the action against the enemy into the cage.
Again and again, Duratov had slapped the fugit with a straight punch until he saw the opening in the left hook leading to the finish. The replay was awfully sloppy, sloppy, sloppy, sloppy, sloppy, sloppy, sloppy, sloppy, from the first punch when he fell, then he was effectively knocked out again when Duratov hit him with two more shots on the ground.
There’s a 12-1 record overall, and Duratov looks like a really fun addition to the UFC Welterweight division after sending Fugitt in an impressive way on Saturday.