Zubaira Tukhugov needed less than four minutes to storm to a TKO finish over Kevin Aguilar in the featured prelim at UFC Fight Night from Auckland, New Zealand.
The frequent training partner of UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov had arguably his strongest performance to date after dropping Aguilar twice during a flurry of punches that stopped the fight at 3:21 into the opening round.
After drawing Aguilar into a fire fight, Tukhugov connected with a left hook that put his opponent down on the canvas. Aguilar bounced back up but he was still on rubber legs as Tukhogov surged forward with a barrage of punches, looking for the finish.
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The Russian featherweight tagged Aguilar with a pair of nasty rights before following up with one more left hook that precipitated the end of the fight. With Aguilar down, Tukhugov began raining down with a series of punches that gave referee Marc Goddard no choice but to stop the contest.
Knockout! Watch Zubaira Tukhugov make easy work of Kevin Aguilar at UFC Auckland
Aguilar did what he normally does and stood in the pocket waiting for Tukhugov to exchange. The Russian featherweight did enter with strikes but was quick to retreat and stay out of Aguilar’s range. After finding multiple openings for a winging right hands Tukhugov was able to land a brutal left hook along the cage that slumped Aguilar to the canvas. A few moments of heavy ground-and-pound and Tukhugov forced the referee’s hand.
With this performance, Tukhugov gets back into the win column after fighting top prospect Lerone Murphy to a draw back in September. The 29-year-old featherweight now has an impressive Octagon record of 4-1-1 with two punishing TKO victories and his only loss coming against former featherweight contender Renato Moicano.
A featherweight scrap kicks off the main card in Auckland featuring Kevin Aguilar and Zubaira Tukhugov.
Aguilar is coming off the second loss of his career after Dan Ige broke his nine-fight winning streak with a unanimous decision which came after Aguilar’s first two UFC appearances. He won those by earning his own unanimous decisions against Rick Glenn and Enrique Barzola.
Tukhugov was riding his own nine-fight winning streak which included three UFC wins over Douglas Silva de Andrade, Ernest Chavez and Phillipe Nover but he then met Renatio Moicano where he lost a tight split decision. He then got popped for a banned substance and was suspended for two years and, after his part in the post-fight melee between Conor McGregor and his training partner Khabib Nurmagomedov, Tukhugov did not return until September last year. He took on Lerone Murphy and fought to a draw.
Tukhugov landed an early knockdown and six takedowns over the course of the fight but he ran out of gas which left the door open for Murphy to get back into the fight. If his cardio has improved, he has the grappling prowess to control Aguilar for three rounds.
That said, the Russian is well-rounded and will back his striking, but this is exactly what Aguilar wants. He will want to keep the fight standing and put his knockout power to use. Tukhugov has a good chin and if he can keep up a pace for three rounds, his wrestling should be enough to steal the decision.
It all goes down later tonight (Sat., Feb. 22, 2020) at UFC Fight Night 168 live on ESPN+ from inside Spark Arena in Auckland, New Zealand, as rising lightweight contenders Paul Felder and Dan Hooker lock horns in a sure-to-be-violent main event affair.
In addition to the 155-pound headliner, light heavyweight prospect Jimmy Crute will try to rebound from his first professional loss when he takes on Polish veteran Michal Oleksiejczuk in the co-main event. Fight fans will also get to see former UFC women’s strawweight title challenger Karolina Kowalkiewicz square off with red-hot Chinese contender Yan Xiaonan, Auckland’s own Brad Riddell try to score his second-straight UFC win in a lightweight matchup with Magomed Mustafaev, and welterweight youngster Jake Matthews take his chances against struggling veteran Emil Weber Meek in “Prelims” action.
Take a look below at UFC Auckland’s complete fight card line up and start times:
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