After being gone from the sport for two years, Magomed Mustafev returned at UFC St. Petersburg with an excellent first-round knockout.
Magomed Mustafaev entered the UFC after winning a one-night tournament in Russia in September 2014, defeating three men including Abubakar Nurmagomedov (the brother of Khabib). He won his first two fights in the Octagon before running into former title contender Kevin Lee in 2016. Mustafaev lost the fight and injured his arm, missing both 2017 and 2018. Mustafaev has stoppages in all 14 of his victories.
Rafael Fiziev is a top prospect out of Kyrgyzstan, set to make his promotional debut at UFC St. Petersburg. The Tiger Muay Thai product has knockouts in five of his six victories and a submission in the other. Fiziev last fought for Titan FC in December, where he won by body kick stoppage.
Mustafev started the fight immediately with a high spinning back kick, it almost dropped Fiziev but it just glanced off the chin. Mustafev looked for a couple of heavy leg kicks. Soon after, he went back to the well with the spinning back kick, and this time it landed clean. It drops Fiziev and he looks for ground-and-pound, and he gets the quick stoppage!
Good. Morning. 😳 #UFCStPetersburg pic.twitter.com/Rx8OCV2Kk8
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) April 20, 2019
Mustafev was gone for two years due to injury, and wasted no time getting back to work.
Magomed Mustafev def. Rafael Fiziev by TKO in Round 1 (1:26)
