Alexander Volkov picked up the biggest win of his career in the main event of UFC Fight Night 127 in London tonight by knocking out former champion Fabricio Werdum in the fourth round.
Round One:
The main event of the evening is underway in London!
Werdum charges out a jumping kick that doesn’t land. That seemed more for show than anything else, but just moments later the real work begins as he closes the distance and lands an early takedown on Volkov.
Close to the cage Werdum works in Volkov’s guard and lands some ground and pound. The BJJ expert is happy working strikes for now against the bigger man.
Half way through the round he lands a series of right hands to the head. So far Volkov hasn’t been able to do anything on the mat other than keep the Brazilian from passing his guard.
However, he does now finally manage to stand up and immediately works punches and some knees and backs Werdum up. That’s a good confidence booster for Volkov after spending much of the round on his back.
Werdum flops to the mat, appearing to be more of an attempt to bait Volkov to come to the mat with him than anything else. Volkov doesn’t bite though and he gets back up. Soon after he tries a flying knee and again appears to stumble to the mat, but it seems like another trick and again Volkov doesn’t buy it.
Upright again Werdum takes a more pro-active approach by landing a very nice trip takedown and spends the remainder of the round on top.
Round Two:
Werdum tries a leg kick, but Volkov avoids it. Volkov blocks a hight kick attempt too. Now a leg kick for the Brazilian. Werdum rushes into range, but has to be careful he doesn’t get countered as he does so.
Volkov steps into a couple of punches and Werdum ducks underneath and tries for the takedown, but this time it’s stuffed.
High kick from Werdum, but he’s struggling to reach up to the 6ft 7″ Volkov’s head. Bit of a stalemate here as they stare at each other from range. Kick from Werdum is caught and he flops to the mat, but Volkov doesn’t go down with him.
Werdum in a takedown attempt and lands it a little over half-way through the second round. Werdum with a few punches and bangs down a solid elbow from inside Volkov’s guard that appers to open up a cut high on his opponent’s hairline.
Werdum able to move into half guard now and that enables him to start working on his first submission attempt, trying for a kimura. Final 10 seconds and he tries to crank on it, but is unsuccessful.
Round Three:
Werdum charges forward to start the round. They exchange punches in close and Werdum gets clipped and decides to duck down and pulls guard with a leg. Werdum executes a terrific sweep to get on top.
This time Volkov doesn’t stay down for long though and when Werdum gets back up he’s bleeding close to his right eye and the swelling theat already was there from punches in the first round is even worse now.
Body kick for Volkov. Leg kick for Werdum. Spinning backfist from Werdum and then a body kick. One-two for the Brazilian just grazes Volkov’s face.
Werdum drops down for a leg and then sweeps on top again, but Volkov does well and ends up on top and then gets back to his feet.
Jab for Werdum. One-two for Volkov. Body kick for Werdum. Jab for Volkov. Single leg attempt from Werdum fails. Head kick attempt from Volkov is blocked. Werdum flops to his back hoping to bait Volkov again, but nope. Leg kick attempt from Werdum is caught and again he goes to his back without managing to convince his opponent to follow him.
Round Four:
Werdum has major sweeling on his right eye at this stage, but he’s continuing to fight. Volkov catches a kick, but doesn’t take him down from it. One-two for Volkov.
Werdum drops for the leg and tries to scramble again, but this time Volkov stops it, lands a couple of punches and gets back to his feet.
Werdum looking tired now, but he tries to push through it and goes on the attack. However, Volkov is happy to oblige in an exchange of strikes and he lands a right hand that hurts the Brazilian, then another that floors him.
Volkov immediately follows Werdum to the mat this time around and clocks him with another big punch that knocks him out with 1.38mins of the fourth round gone!
Huge win for Volkov then, his fourth in a row in the UFC, and having taken out notable names like Roy Nelson, Stefan Struve and now Fabricio Werdum he’s going to be banging on the door of title contention soon.
