5 most explosive moments from UFC Fight Night: Jared Cannonier vs Kelvin Gastelum

#4 Saidyokub Kakhramonov debuts with a bang by putting Trevin Jones to sleep

Saidyokub Kakhramonov debuted in style by choking out Trevin Jones.

Before last night’s show, not even hardcore UFC fans had really heard of newcomer Saidyokub Kakhramonov, who took his fight with Trevin Jones on late notice. In fact, the debutant even missed the bantamweight limit of 135 lb, probably due to a lack of time to prepare for the fight.

In the octagon, though, Kakhramonov looked excellent, particularly when you consider that Jones was coming off back-to-back UFC knockouts, and had plenty of momentum behind him.

The fight was undoubtedly close to call, as it was fought primarily in the clinch, with both men having some success. Quite who would’ve seen their hand raised had the clash gone to the judges is anyone’s guess.

However, Kakhramonov ensured the judges weren’t needed by snaring Jones in a standing power guillotine choke with just 21 seconds left in the final round. Jones wasn’t even given a chance to escape - nor tap - as the newcomer tightened and wrenched on the hold so much that ‘5-Star’ simply passed out.

With less than 30 seconds to go, @SaidYokubMMA choked Trevin Jones to sleep 🤫 #UFCVegas34 pic.twitter.com/ZQ9CaDL0BC

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) August 22, 2021

This was arguably the most aggressive guillotine choke we’ve seen in the UFC since Jon Jones’ legendary finish of Lyoto Machida a decade ago. That likely would’ve netted Kakhramonov a $50K bonus, had he not missed weight.

As it is, though, he’ll have to settle for garnering plenty of attention for his explosive finish this morning, and should have fans keeping an eye on him going forward.

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#3 Josiane Nunes ignores a huge size disadvantage to take out Bea Malecki

Josiane Nunes fought through a size disadvantage to knock out Bea Malecki.

The most immediately noticeable thing about the women’s bantamweight fight between Bea Malecki and newcomer Josiane Nunes was the ludicrous size advantage that Sweden’s Malecki appeared to enjoy.

Although both women weighed in at the 135 lb bantamweight limit, Malecki stood six inches taller than Nunes, and also enjoyed a seven-inch reach advantage. It literally looked like the two fighters should’ve been in separate weight classes.

However, when the fight began, it quickly became clear that Malecki simply didn’t know how to maximise her size advantage. Instead, she continually ate several overhand punches from Nunes, who constantly backed her up and forced her onto the defensive.

With Malecki constantly dropping her hands, it felt like only a matter of time before something big landed for Nunes, and sure enough, with just six seconds remaining in the first round, the Brazilian clocked her with an overhand right that knocked her senseless.

WOOOOW! WELCOME TO THE UFC Josiane Nunes!!! [#UFCVegas34 | Prelims are LIVE on ESPN2 & @ESPNPlus] pic.twitter.com/lRpjDI7nOx

— UFC (@ufc) August 22, 2021

Quite how far Nunes can go in the UFC remains to be seen, as Malecki was hardly a proven fighter herself. But this was definitely a great start, and should go down as one of 2021’s more memorable knockouts, thanks to the bizarre visual of the size difference.