UFC Vegas 5 results: Brunson brutally batters Shahbazyan in third-round TKO

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Derek Brunson just put the stamp on Edmen Shahbazyan in the UFC Vegas 5 main event.

UFC Vegas 5 is officially in the books and the marquee matchup witnessed the company’s #8 ranked middleweight, Derek Brunson, TKO the #9 ranked, Edmen Shahbazyan, early int he third round. The opening round was rather close, but it was all but over by the end of the second round. It was 26-seconds into the final round when the referee had seen enough and stopped the bout. Brunson is now on a three-fight winning streak for the first time since 2016.

Shahbazyan took the enter of the Octagon to open things up. Brunson hung out on the outside, launching head kicks, and then Shahbazyan began countering the kick of Brunson with hooks. Brunson shot in and briefly took the young gun to the ground. Shahbazyan stood to his feet and began landing clean with his hands. Brunson tried to make it ugly and lean on his foe, but Shahbazyan did a good job of escaping into open space.

Brunson scored another short-lived takedown early in the second act, he just couldn’t keep Shahbazyan down for very long. On the feet, Brunson stuck with his kicking attack while Shahbazyan was still working his boxing. An accidental eye poke from Brunson brought a pause to the action. The fight resumed and Shahbazyan had a spurt of offense, landing a hard body kick and some more punches. Brunson responded with a flurry of his own, including a well-timed knee to the head. Brunson clinches up against the cage and ultimately pulled Shahbazyan to the mat. He landed a ton of strikes, surfing atop Shahbazyan and maintaining control. A series of devastating elbows came crashing in before the bell, and it almost looked as if Shahbazyan went out cold.

The doctor came in the cage before the third round to check on Shahbazyan, and deemed the fighter fit to continue. The round began and Brunson quickly took Shahbazyan to the mat. As soon as he started to pound away, the referee was there to stop the fight.

Derek Brunson def. Edmen Shahbazyan by TKO at :26 of round 3: Middleweight