Strickland, Dawson beat back Russian foes in UFC Fight Night

MANILA, Philippines – The challenge from Russian mixed martial arts fighters is real and will continue to do so. However, last Sunday, a pair of American fighters in the co-main events of UFC Fight Night held at the Apex in Las Vegas beat back a pair of tough challenges.

In the main event, Sean Strickland overcame a poor first round against Abus Magomedov, where the former absorbed a bunch of solid leg kicks and shots to the body aside from an eye poke that could have prematurely ended the match. 

Come the second round of what was supposed to be a five-round fight, Strickland began to stick that jab and home in with some crisp combinations. Eventually, Strickland rocked Magomedov, sapping away his confidence and changed his body language. Smelling blood, Strickland started to whale away, battering his foe where he nearly doubled his strike output to Magomedov 81-47.

The American knocked him down and a series of undefended strikes saw the referee put an end to the contest with 40 seconds left in the round.

"I ain't slowing down, I ain't stopping,” cried Strickland.” If you want to go down and wrestle or have some Peter Pan kicks, bring it. The UFC is the one who pays me, but without you guys, I wouldn't get a check, and they paid me really good for this fight. I want the title. If you don't want to give me the title, then give me (Israel Adesanya). I want the first and only Chinese champion (Adesanya was a champion in China's Glory of Heroes kickboxing promotion). Let's do this."

Strickland improved to 27-5-0 and was awarded the $50,000 bonus for Performance of the Night, while Magomedov fell in his second UFC bout to drop to 25-5-1.

In the co-main events, Grant Dawson told fight fans days before UFC Fight Night that not only will he get the win against Damir Ismagulov but everyone will say, “that kid’s good.”

Dawson made good on his world as he punished Ismagulov in three rounds for a unanimous decision win. 

The 29-year old American repeatedly got the take down and outwrestled the Russian, always staying one move ahead in spite of the latter’s takedown defense. Dawson’s relentlessness and work ethic proved to be too much for Ismagulov to overcome.

Following the fight, Dawson promised more: "This performance was 10% me. Those guys standing behind you, it was 90% them — the coaches I have at American Top Team are second to none. Next, I want a big name or a big rank. If that's Tony Ferguson, that's a go because it's a big name. If it's Beneil Dariush, that's a go because it's a big rank. Whoever it is, I'm here to tell the world I'm one of the best!"

This was Dawson’s ninth win out of 10 matches (one being a no contest) since he came up from Dana White’ Contender Series.

Speaking of the Russian MMA invasion, three weeks ago, the tough Muslim Salikhov was badly beaten by Danish fighter Nicolas Dalby. 

The UFC is televised live in the Philippines every week on the Premier Sports Channel on Skycable and Cignal as well as on the TapGo TV streaming application.

The next UFC event is UFC 290 that will be shown on Sunday, July 9, with Alexander Volkanovski and Yair Rodriguez battling for the featherweight title belt. In the co-main event, flyweight champion Brandon Moreno defends his title against Alexandre Pantoja.