Rustam Khabilov continued his undefeated run in the UFC tonight at the ‘Fight For The Troops 3’ event by outpointing Jorge Masvidal in a competitive main card bout.
Round One
Clubbing right hand lands for Khabilov in the opening exchange of the contest. Masvidal seems ok though. Masvidal takes his time then moves in looking for a shot of his own, but eats another right hand.
The two size each other up from range. Masvidal lands a low kick and then the two exchange hard shots in close.
khabilov connects with a body kick. They fire off aggressive shots again, but nothing connects significantly this time.
Khabilov is really loading up on his shots early in this fight.
The Russian looks for his first takedown of the fight. He almost gets it, but Masvidal manages to partially stuff it and get back to his feet.
Khabilov bundles Masvidal to the ground briefly, but he’s able to get back up unscathed and is able to connect in close and get away.
Masvidal looking for more kicks and seems to have warmed up to the striking battle, while Khabilov’s now starting to focus more on takedowns as the round comes to a close.
Round Two
Khabilov still looping in that big right hand at the start of this round. Masvidal responds with a leg kick and then one to the body. Another to the leg comes soon after.
Good power from Khabilov in his strikes, but he’s really only throwing one shot at a time rather than unleashing combo’s and Masvidal’s starting to see them coming and is defending accordingly.
Khabilov looking for a takedown, but Masvidal is doing a really good job of stopping him getting that aspect of his game going.
Another hard kick from Masvidal. Khabilov punches to the body then catches his opponent off-guard with a hard punch to the fact that brings a look of surprise followed by a smile from Masvidal.
Masvidal then opts to change things up by landing a takedown of his own. He can’t keep the Russian down for long though.
Khabilov works hard to return the favor and while Masvidal does defend well he does briefly get put on the mat before finding a way back upright again as the round draws to a close.
Round Three
It’s been a competitive fight so far and so there’s all to play for in the final five minutes. Khabilov goes upstairs with a kick that doesn’t connect. He lets his hands go too and still looks pretty fresh at this stage in the fight.
Masvidal goes back to his kicking game. Just as I say that though, Khabilov suddenly unleashes a spinning head kick and it connects with a hard crack, dropping Masvidal heavily to the mat.
Masvidal has a hell of a chin though and somehow survives. Khabilov is all over him, perhaps looking for a choke, but Masvidal still has the presence of mind to spin out of danger.
Back on the feet they go and there’s some frantic scrambling going on with both men attempting to score takedowns.
The action finally settles on the feet though with Masvidal clinching his opponent against the cage. It’s only a brief lull though as Masvidal momentarily manages to bundle him to the mat and then they reset on the feet.
Masvidal looking for a spinning back kick, but Khabilov catches it and takes him to the mat. More scrambles ensue and they both get back upright. They’re fighting for control in the clinch against the cage now and Khabilov utilizes a trip to get ‘Gamebred’ down again.
He punches to Masvidal’s body on the mat before they get back on their feet again just as the round ends.
Decision
In the end Khabilov had the bigger moments in this encounter and he gets the nod from all three judges for the unanimous decision victory (30-27 x2, 29-28).
