Kazakh UFC fighters made a name for themselves back in the days when they could only dream of an overseas career. Each of them had a glorious background at home, in Russian and foreign promotions, and the rivals there were not easy. Correspondent of bbabo.net - about what rematches with their ex-opponents of Kazakhstan can probbabo.net already in the UFC.
First of all, I would like to say about the confrontation between Maria Agapova (10-2) and American Tracey Cortez (9-1). They met in July 2019 at the Dana White Contender's Series, which ended in a unanimous decision victory for Cortez.
Now, 24-year-old Agapova has two early victories in the UFC with one defeat, and 28-year-old Cortez won all three fights, but exclusively by decision of the judges. Both are not included in the top 15 rating, and their meeting in the near future is quite likely.
Sergey Morozov (17-6) from the bantamweight category also has a rival from the past, who now competes in the UFC, Russian Said Nurmagomedov (15-2). And no, we didn't mix anything up here. In his first fight in the American promotion, Sergey fought Khabib Nurmagomedov's cousin, Umar Nurmagomedov (13-0). But Said is not a relative for them, but only a namesake and countryman.
Morozov met Said at the 2013 MMA World Championship (WMMMA). Then Nurmagomedov won due to a successful guillotine choke. True, this result is only included in the amateur record of fighters.
Now, 32-year-old Sergey has one victory with two early defeats in the UFC. As for the 29-year-old Nurmagomedov, he has won four fights in the promotion, losing only once. According to some reports, in October 2020, Said could already meet with the Kazakhstani in the first fight for Sergey in the UFC.
Zhalgas Zhumagulov (14-6) from the flyweight has two options at once - this is the rating Russian Tagir Ulanbekov (14-1) and the American veteran Tyson Nam (20-12-1). With both, Zalgas fought in the Fight Nights Global league, and went through 25-minute wars with both.
Nem in April 2018 in Almaty, Zhumagulov won by unanimous decision. Four months later, in the capital of Kazakhstan, Zhalgas won a split decision and Ulanbekov, becoming the new champion of the promotion. To this day, for Tagir, this is the only defeat in his career.
Zhumagulov, 33, has only won one out of four fights in the UFC. The statistics of the 38-year-old Nem in the promotion is 2-3, while the 30-year-old Ulanbekov is 2-0.
Well, the most unlikely fight is a meeting between top welterweight Shavkat Rakhmonov (15-0) and Korean fighter Pak Chong-Yong (13-5). In August 2016, they fought on the territory of Pak as part of the Nomad Battle league tournament. Then the Kazakhstani strangled the opponent in the second round.
Now 27-year-old Shavkat is ranked 15th in the ranking, having won ahead of schedule in all three fights in the promotion. The 30-year-old Jong-Yong has three wins by decision in the UFC with two early losses.
This fight hardly makes sense now, because Rakhmonov still looks much stronger and more preferable than his opponent. Moreover, Shavkat has already entered the top 15, and now his opposition will be even stronger.
The expert spoke about the prospects of Rakhmonov after the third early victory in the UFC
Photo: DWCS (1), Fight Nights (2)
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