Ismail Naurdiev went against expectations, ending Michel Prazeres’ eight-fight win streak in his promotional debut at UFC Prague.
Ismail Naurdiev will be making his promotional debut at UFC Prague after replacing the promising Ramazan Emeev, who pulled out due to injury earlier this month. “The Austrian Wonderboy” went 3-1 in ACB, which included a spinning head kick KO, before winning in 36 seconds with XFN just three weeks ago.
Michel Prazeres will compete at welterweight for the third time on his current run after missing weight three times at 155-pounds, which prevented him from contendership despite losing just once at lightweight in the UFC to Kevin Lee in 2015. The Brazilian held wins over Gilbert Burns, Mairbek Taisumov, and Des Green before being forced to move up. Since the welterweight return, Prazeres followed up a decision victory over Zak Cummings with a first-round submission.
Michel Prazeres wasted no time, shooting for a takedown as soon as the fight started. He drove Ismail Naurdiev to the fence, but couldn’t drag him down. Naurdiev was throwing a variety of kicks on the feet, but Prazeres cut right through it and shot for another takedown. Naurdiev stayed on the feet with a headlock against the fence. After breaking out, Naurdiev landed a jumping switch kick and a piar of punches that rocked Prazeres. As he closed in, Prazeres shot for a takedown and got it through a couple of elbows from Naurdiev. Naurdiev kicked off the fence and reversed position, taking the back of Prazeres and going for a rear-naked choke. The Austrian could not get it under the chin, and Prazeres was able to spin out. Prazeres held him against the fence as long as he could until Naurdiev spun out again and pressed Prazeres against the cage to end the round.
To start round two, Prazeres caught a kick and went for a trip takedown, but Naurdiev impressively stayed on the feet. Prazeres continued to walk down his opponent through a jumping knee to the body and clinched him against the fence. Naurdiev reversed a takedown attempt and ended up in top position. Both Prazeres and Naurdiev went on to reverse positions and Naurdiev held Prazeres in closed guard until a referee stand-up. A jumping knee landed for Naurdiev, prompting another clinch from Prazeres. Marc Goddard’s patience seemed to be waning as he quickly separated the fighters from the cage. Naurdiev landed a straight left to end the round.
Naurdiev landed another kick before a clinch by Prazeres to start round three. Shortly after, the referee stepped in to separate the fighters. Prazeres closed in on another takedown and after a back-and-forth scramble, ended up in half guard. Prazeres held the position until Naurdiev squirmed out, landing a knee that rocked Prazeres on the way up. Prazeres shot for a desperation takedown, but Naurdiev ended up on top, landing constant elbows. He just didn’t have enough gas in the tank to finish Prazeres before the final bell.
Ismail Naurdiev def. Michel Prazeres by Unanimous Decision (30-27 x2, 30-26)
