Nursulton Ruziboev earned a KO victory over Sedriques Dumas in the first round tonight at UFC On ESPN 54, though what appears to have been an accidental eye graze a few seconds earlier certainly had a bearing on the outcome.
Round One:
Cautious start from both men as they almost go a full minute without throwing a strike, but then Ruziboev very nicely times a hard right hand down the pipe.
Ruziboev with another strike. He steps into an uppercut. Dumas tries to come forward and eats another counter from Ruziboev.
Dumas seems undeterred for now though. Ruziboev steps in again with an uppercut that doesn’t quite land cleanly and then soon after does so again and this time misses.
Another punch lands for Ruziboev. There’s that uppercut again. Left hand lands for Dumas. Dumas now complaining about an eyepoke, but the ref didn’t see it and allows the action to continue. (A replay shows Ruziboev’s fingers did at least partially graze Dumas’ right eye when he was stepping in to throw a punch – accidental but unfortunate).
Ruziboev pressing forward as Dumas seems distracted and lands a big uppercut that drops him. Dumas just covers up on the mat as Ruziboev throws more punches and the ref quickly brings the fight, and it’s declared a KO finish at 3.18mins of the opening round.
