Magomed Ankalaev earned a 38 second knockout victory over Ion Cutelaba tonight at UFC Fight Night 169, but the ending was highly controversial.
Round One:
Before the fight Cutelaba marched straight across the Octagon into Ankalaev during his fighter introduction!
Leg kick for Cutelaba as the real fight starts now. Now a high kick. Kick to the leg from Ankalaev.
Couple of punches from Ankalaev and then a big head kick that’s partially blocked. Ankalaev pouring it on here with a heavy body kick and another one upstairs.
Cutelaba looks like he might be wobbled as Ankalaev punches him twice again and the referee moves in and ends the fight with just 38 seconds gone, which brings an immediate protest from an animated and still upright Cutelaba.
That definitely did look like a premature stoppage and replays show that Cutelaba seemed to still be ok and may even have been pretending to be hurt, rope-a-dope style and paid the price for it when the ref bought into it and genuinely thought he was badly rocked.
Nevertheless, its still bizarre to see this one officially go down as a KO victory.
