Another fight weekend is in the books. Saturday night’s MMA lineup featured a rare Bellator-UFC head-to-head showdown, and while Bellator delivered the better card on paper, both delivered very fun action throughout. In the week’s big fight, A.J. McKee completed his gripping rise to the top of the featherweight world, knocking out the great Patricio Pitbull in the first round and cementing himself as Bellator’s new superstar player. Meanwhile, Sean Strickland did what Sean Strickland does in the UFC main event, punching Uriah Hall almost 200 times in the head en route to a unanimous decision.
I’ll have more on McKee – and possibly Strickland, depending on how things shake out – this week. But for now, as usual, here’s a look at three fighters outside the main event who boosted their stock Saturday:
I’ve written about Usman Nurmagomedov before on this blog, after he ripped through Mike Hamel in his Bellator debut in April. Nurmagomedov is far more than just a name – although seriously, a mixed martial artist named “Usman Nurmagomedov” is like a hockey player being named “Ovechkin Gretzky” – but he’ll always get plenty of attention because of that name.
Nurmagomedov is, of course, the younger cousin of the legendary Khabib Nurmagomedov, who has taken over as his coach following his retirement. Usman is just 23 years old and now 13-0 as a professional – something about those Nurmagomedovs, they just tend not to lose. But what’s been so fun about watching Usman grow is how much different he is from his famous cousin, and how Khabib – and previously Khabib’s late father Abdulmanap – have let him develop into something completely unique from the typical Dagestani fighter.
Usman Nurmagomedov is a Nurmagomedov who doesn’t really like to wrestle. He can do it, to be sure, but it’s not as fun to him as throwing spinning kicks and knocking people out. So, generally, that’s what he does. (Very Justin Gaethje of him, by the way: Gaethje was a great college wrestler who started MMA, realized how cool it felt to knock people out, and decided he never wanted to wrestle again.) But even though his approach is such a departure from what you would expect from someone with his last name, his coaches have never tried to force this square peg into a round hole. Instead, they’ve allowed him to grow into what he is, and that’s a very dangerous young mixed martial artist.
But against Manny Muro on Saturday night, Usman had to remind everyone that he is, in fact, a Nurmagomedov. Usman actually wrestled a bit on Saturday night, expertly timing a couple of successful double-leg takedowns that caught Muro off-guard and established control in the first round. But Usman comes by his violence different than his cousin. He wasn’t gonna hold him there and do the ol’ Dagestani smesh.
Instead, they made their way to the feet, where Usman annihilated Muro’s liver with a knee that just zipped from out of nowhere:
At every turn, Usman Nurmagomedov has dominated in style, showing some real exciting flair that sets him apart. On Saturday, he gave a hint of the bedrock underpinning his fighting game – not because he had to, but because he wanted to. Nurmagomedov said after the fight that he wanted to show to everyone that he wasn’t the only Nurmagomedov in the world who couldn’t wrestle. Of course he knows how to wrestle! His name is Usman Nurmagomedov! He just hasn’t had to. If the going gets tough, however, it’s there.
I’m more and more impressed with Usman Nurmagomedov every time I see him. It’s time for him to start fighting names.
While the UFC show was about as barren of names as any show in UFC history, I have to say, at the very least we got some fun action. There were some really explosive finishes on the main card, but they came from fighters who probably aren’t going anywhere – for example, Cheyanne Buys‘ awesome head kick of Gloria de Paula, or Jared Gooden‘s one-punch KO of Nik Stolze that snapped a two-fight losing streak.
There was one great finish that came from a fighter who actually really intrigues me, however. 29-year-old featherweight Melsik Baghdasaryan debuted with the UFC on Saturday night in just his seventh professional MMA fight, having previously had a pro kickboxing career that took him to a reasonably high level: a stint fighting in K-1 meant that he’s not unaccustomed to a big stage.
He debuted as a pro MMA fighter in 2014, lost by submission on a small local show in California, and then committed himself to kickboxing full-time. He didn’t return to MMA until 2019, but since then had reeled off five straight wins, including a Contender Series victory last year. I had never seen Baghdasaryan fight before, but he I had heard good things: the real down-and-dirty fight freaks, the guys like Caposa who somehow find a way to watch every single combat sports event in the entire world and put me to absolute shame, were hyping him up a little heading into Saturday.
The word was this Melsik guy really knew how to throw down. Turns out: they were right.
Now THAT’S a fucking head kick knockout. You can see Collin Anglin‘s lights shut down in slow motion. Baghdasaryan looked real dangerous from the outset: a southpaw with really quick hands, he’s very aggressive, fast and throws everything with intent to kill. He did well enough in the clinch and getting up after takedowns to make his style appear viable, and that left hand landed clean and hard a number of times before Baghdasaryan got the finish.
He comes out so fast and so strong that I worry a bit for his gas tank, but his strikes really land with a big slap and a lot of power. It’s obviously very early, but I loved what I saw from him. At the very least, he looks like a very fun striker tossed into a division filled with them – the success of Giga Chikadze, another converted kickboxer with a similar background, could provide a roadmap for him. I’m looking forward to seeing more.
Strawweight Victoria Lee has just two professional fights on her record, and neither of them were against anyone you’re likely to have heard of. That doesn’t matter one bit. You’re probably going to be hearing quite a bit about Victoria Lee over the next few years, if you haven’t already.
There are a few reasons for that. First and foremost, it’s because she’s a Lee. The Lees are basically the first family of ONE Fighting Championship. Victoria is the youngest: her older sister Angela has been the promotion’s 115-pound champion since 2016, although she’s currently on hiatus after having her first child earlier this year. Her older brother Christian, a super-talented lightweight, is the promotion’s champion in that division as well. ONE promotes the Lee siblings heavily, and they’re the crown jewels of Evolve MMA, which is owned by ONE chairman Chatri Sityodtong and essentially functions as ONE’s in-house fighting camp. Victoria’s going to have that promotional machine behind her, no matter how her young fighting career goes.
But disregard the whole family aspect. No, you’re going to be hearing the name Victoria Lee a lot over the next few years, because she’s already this good at SIXTEEN YEARS OLD:
Sixteen! Now, setting aside the ethical concerns of allowing a sixteen-year-old child to fight adults inside of a cage for money, she looks pretty damn good for 16! And while neither of her career opponents are anything special, it should be noted that both had winning pro records before they stepped into the cage with Lee: 20-year-old Sunisa Srisen was 4-1 before Lee tapped her with a rear naked choke in February, and Friday’s opponent, 21-year-old Luping Wang, was 3-2.
These are, at the very least, fighters who have proven to have the ability to beat another human being in a mixed martial arts contest. And in both cases, 16-year-old Victoria Lee has run through them. She completely dominated Wang on Friday, taking her down, beating her up, and ripping her with an armbar in just over three minutes. Wang was never in the fight.
I don’t know about you, but when I was 16, I wasn’t confident or sure of myself in any way whatsoever. Lee looks very confident and very sure of herself in the cage, and I’ve been struck in both of her fights with how aggressive she is. Teenagers tend to have a lot of angst and fury, and maybe Victoria just gets the chance to take hers out on professional fighters. I’m also struck with how well-schooled she is on the ground for her age – she’s been training since she was very young, but still.
You’re not supposed to be that good at anything when you’re 16 years old. But quite possibly the youngest pro mixed martial artist in the world, Victoria Lee is showing that she already has what it takes to be successful, at least at the lower end of the sport. She could have double-digit pro fights by the time she’s out of her teens, and an absurd amount of time to build and improve. I always talk about how dangerous a grizzled young vet can be: Victoria Lee has the chance to be the most grizzled, youngest vet around. Who knows where she might end up?
The Big Fight 