At the UFC Qatar prelims, all eyes were on the Aleksandre Topuria vs Bekzat Almakhan fight. The matchup itself was enough to keep fans locked in on this bantamweight showdown, but many were even more curious to see whether ‘El Conquistador’ could put real pressure on an opponent who managed to knock down Umar Nurmagomedov in his debut. And as the fight played out, Topuria showed that he’s not far behind his two-division champion younger brother.

From the opening bell, Topuria looked sharp with his forward pressure, using his crisp boxing with real precision. There were moments when Almakhan’s powerful leg kicks gave the Georgian-Spaniard a bit of trouble, but aside from that, he was winning most of the exchanges on the feet and also taking control with his wrestling on the ground. But the

See Full Page