Joaquin Buckley secured a TKO stoppage over Albert Duraev Before the third round of their fight at UFC On ESPN 37 due to his opponent being unable to see out of his swollen shut left eye.
Round One:
Side kick to the body from Buckley. He loads up on a few punches, but Duraev backs up out of danger. Buckley misses with a kick upstairs.
Buckley with a huge head kick, but Duraev somehow manages to remain standing and even tries to throw a punch of his own.
Duraev thinks about a takedown, but nothing doing for now. Inside leg kick for Duraev. Buckley comes barrelling forward with big punches and a kick, but misses and slips at the end of the combo.
Now it’s Duraev who manages to land a head kick of his own and Buckley manages to keep standing but does have a cut close to his eye now.
Another big combo misses from Buckley. He does it again, with punches and a head kick coming up just short.
Buckley backs up and then suddenly drives forward again with a big punch that hurts Duraev and leaves him with swelling to his right cheek.
One-two from Duraev. Body kick from Buckley. Inside leg kick from Duraev. Heavy left hand from Buckley backs up Duraev. Buckley looking for more and gets another left in there before the round ends.
Round Two:
Buckley with winging punches that don’t quite find the mark. He does land a left hand now though. Head kick just glances the target too.
Duraev ducking in for a takedown just as Buckley throws a knee and it’s very lucky for him that didn’t connect cleanly.
Back to striking range they go, but not for long as Duraev drives in and spins around as he goes for takedown. He’s partially got him down, but Buckley is able to get back up and the crowd cheers loudly.
Duraev has bad swelling around the left eye and Buckley lands a big straight punch that hurts his opponent.
Buckley continuing to pressure and Duraev dives in on a takedown and this time he does get him to the mat.
Buckley sat against the cage with Duraev on top. Duraev not able to get much going from there though and Buckley is then able to scramble and get on top then get to his feet.
Duraev’s left eye is practically swollen shut now. Buckley attempts a couple of kicks upstairs, but Duraev gets out of range.
However, Buckley does then connect with a big punch that sits Duraev down just as the round is about to end.
Round Three:
That swollen shut eye is a major problem for Duraev and the doctor is asked to take a look at the start of the round. Unfortunately he is unable to see out of it and the doctor quickly waves off the action, with the official result being announced as a TKO stoppage at 0.10mins of the third round for some reason, though it should be at 5.00mins of the second as the final round wasn’t underway yet.
