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Abubakar Nurmagomedov, cousin of UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, had his Octagon debut spoiled earlier today (Sat., Nov. 9, 2019) at UFC Fight Night 163 live on ESPN+ from inside CSKA Arena in Moscow, Russia, when the “Dagestani Gangster” was submitted via first-round triangle choke by German veteran David Zawada.
In typical Nurmagomedov fashion, Abubakar secured an early takedown against Zawada and started to go to work. Out of nowhere, Zawada threw up a tight armbar attempt that had the Russian in trouble. A quick defense by Nurmagomedov followed by a transition from Zawada resulted in an even tighter triangle choke. Zawada cranked as hard as he could and Nurmagomedov was forced to tap.
Check out the full fight video highlights above courtesy of UFC/ESPN.
With this performance, Zawada rebounds from back-to-back losses to start his UFC career to take out one of the most talked about welterweight fighters outside of the promotion. This win isn’t going to launch Zawada too far up the 170-pound ladder, but it will buy him some time after stinking things up in 2018.
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