The debuting Shamil Gamzatov picked up his first UFC win in a hard-fought victory over Klidson Abreu at UFC Moscow.
Kicking off the main card of UFC Moscow was a light heavyweight pairing featuring Shamil Gamzatov and Klidson Abreu. Like Abubakar Nurmagomedov, who was also making his promotional debut Saturday, Gamzatov was a debuting Dagestani fighter who had previously competed for the Professional Fighters League and WSOF. Impressively, Gamzatov had maintained a perfect record through his first 13 fights.
Brazil’s Abreu, for his part, was looking to build on a win over Sam Alvey earlier in the year at UFC on ESPN 4.
Gamzatov and Abreu opened up by trading kicks to the body. Abreu went for a flying knee, but Gamzatov just slipped out of the way and went for a right hand. Abreu looked very confident with his striking, throwing a head kick up against the fence that Gamzatov just dodged. Gamzatov responded with a flurry to get off the fence, but Abreu was soon pressuring him into it again. Gamzatov tried to land some leg kicks, but Abreu jumped on him with a combination against the fence. An interesting first round.
Gamzatov looked more confident to start round two, throwing combinations ending with a leg kick. Abreu kept connecting however, landing a clean right hand on Gamzatov as he was moving forward. Abreu landed a lovely combination followed by a leg kick that nearly took Gamzatov legs out from under him. Gamzatov started to pressure with about 90 seconds left in the round, but Abreu quickly turned the tables and got his back off the cage. Abreu would land a takedown with a minute left in the round, however, Gamzatov was able to get up and end the round on the feet.
Abreu opened up the third with a lazy body kick that was caught by Gamzatov and ate a left hook to the body. Abreu then threw a combination to respond followed by a very not lazy leg kick, that landed strong. Gamzatov seemed frustrated in the third, as he was having trouble landing on Abreu. However halfway through the round, Gamzatov began pushing the pressure and landing a bit more, again gaining confidence. Gamzatov went for a spinning back kick, and this allowed Abreu to get the fight into the clinch and go for a takedown. Gamzatov reversed position and separated, but Abreu looked for another takedown against the fence; that is where the bout would end.
Official Result: Shamil Gamzatov def. Klidson Abreu by split-decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
