The UFC landed in Azerbaijan for the first time in its history this past Saturday but unfortunately, the event was extremely lackluster.
In the main event of the evening, light heavyweights Khalil Rountree Jr and Jamahal Hill squared off in what was a relatively slow fight, which Rountree Jr dominated and subsequently picked up the decision win.
Despite the Azeri fans being an extremely passionate region, the arena fell flat early on in the night and heading into the main card, there hadn’t been a single finish from six fights.
It took until the eighth fight between Nazim Sadykhov and Nikolas Motta for the first finish of the night to be recorded in what was one of the best fights so far this year.
Photo by Ed Mulholland/Zuffa LLCDana White awards Sadykhov and Motta $100k each for incredible performance
After an incredible five minutes of action in round one, the two lightweights came out in round two throwing with even more venom.
Near the end of the round, Sadykhov poured it on the Brazilian, landing some huge punches while Motta was up against the fence, subsequently scoring a vicious knockout.
Following the utter war between Sadykhov and Motta, there was only one other finish on the 12-fight card in Baku.
Having been dealt an unfortunate hand, the fans in attendance in Baku began leaving the arena early before Rountree Jr and Hill had even made their walkouts.
And with that, following the event, UFC boss Dana White revealed that he awarded all of the performance bonus money to Sadykhov and Motta.
“I wanna say, Nazim and Motta, total strikes landed 98 vs 84, which is crazy pace for a fight that ended in the second round. 65 to 64 head shots and a combined 159 strikes in round one and then the Motta combination, there was like 75 punches, in that ball park.
“I’m giving them all the money tonight, so they’re getting $100,000 each, they’re getting all the money, congratulations to those two,” White said.
Dana White explains why he snubbed impressive submission win
Immediately following the incredible fight between Sadykhov and Motta, Myktybek Orolbai scored a first round submission win over Tofiq Musayev.
Despite his impressive performance, White explained why he didn’t award the 27-year-old a performance bonus.
“The kimura? The kid that didn’t make weight? He didn’t make weight, he missed weight by 10lbs, he came over and told me after the fight he said ‘I’m gonna be a world champion some day’, I said ‘You better figure out how to make weight first before you (make that claim).’
“You can’t become a world champion if you come in 10lbs over weight,” White stated.