As expected Khabib Nurmagomedov proved to be too much for short notice opponent Darrell Horcher tonight at UFC on FOX 19, finally putting the game newcomer away by TKO in the second round with ground and pound.
Round One:
Cautious start for Nurmagomedov, taking his time as he works his way into this fight. He throws a right hand. leg kick for Khabib and a punch in return from Horcher.
Horcher with a leg kick. He starts throwing a few more punches and gets lightly clipped by a hook from Nurmagomedov.
Left hook for Horcher. Finally Nurmagomedov tires of the stand-up and fires into a low takedown. He hoists Horcher up, marches him over to the center of the Octagon and then dumps him to the mat. That’s what we’ve comes to expect from the Russian and Horcher is now in his world.
Khabib in half guard for now. A minute to go and Nurmagomedov passes to side control. Immediately Khabib starts battering him with elbows and opens up a cut on his scalp. Horcher almost gets him to half guard, but Khabib is all over him and before long takes his back. He starts chipping away at his short notice opponent and the referee is watching closely as the round comes to a close with Khabib very much in control.
Round Two:
solid right hand for Khabib to start the second, but Horcher is returning fire and lands a couple of nice straight punches of his own. Nurmagomedov in on a takedown, but Horcher shows good balance as he fights to stay upright. However, it’s only a matter of time before Khabib brings him to the mat in side control.
‘The Eagle’ landing some ground and pound. Horcher trying to fight for half guard, but Khabib is able to get to side control again and then traps his opponent in the crucifix.
Not good news for Horcher and Nurmagomedov starts beating him up again with punches. The ref looks close to stopping it as the blows continue to rain down, but Horcher bucks at the right time to show he’s still intelligently defending himself. Nurmagomedov continues to remain offensive with ground and pound and eventually transitions to Horcher’s back.
More offense follows with Horcher turtled up on his knees, but refusing to give in as Nurmagomedov blasts away with lefts and rights, and thankfully the ref realizes that enough is enough and stops the fight, handing Khabib Nurmagomedov a TKO victory.
