Alexander Romanov stayed undefeated and rose up the heavyweight ranks with a first-round forearm choke against Marcos Rogerio de Lima at UFC Vegas 13.
Alexander Romanov has the makings of a future heavyweight star and faced Marcos Rogerio de Lima at UFC Vegas 13. He made his UFC debut in September after having three prior fights fall through. Romanov absolutely dominated Roque Martinez that night to make it 12 finishes in 12 fights in his career.
One of the fights for Romanov that was scrapped was one against de Lima and Romanov asked for the Brazilian after the debut victory. De Lima has been with the promotion since 2014, moving up to heavyweight in 2018. He had a 2-1 record at heavyweight heading into the fight and was coming off a win over Ben Sosoli.
Marcos Rogerio de Lima started the fight with a pair of heavy leg kicks, prompting Alexander Romanov to hit a blast double-leg into side control. Romanov wanted an arm-triangle, but de Lima popped out and stood up, hitting Romanov with a left on the way up. The Brazilian landed a combination and avoided a takedown from Romanov. De Lima popped him with another combination and Romanov desperately clinched up. Romanov held de Lima against the fence for over a minute, eventually throwing him down into side control. An escape nearly worked for de Lima, but Romanov transitioned to half guard and blasted de Lima with ground-and-pound. He then placed his forearm on the neck of de Lima and slept him. A brutal finish for Romanov, who made it 13 stoppages in as many fights.
A forearm choke for Moldova's own!
🇲🇩 Alexandr Romanov showcased high level grappling to stay undefeated!
[ #UFCVegas13 continues LIVE on #ESPNPlus ] pic.twitter.com/VsnFFnrNiV
— UFC (@ufc) November 8, 2020
The forearm choke was the first in UFC history, but the third in the career of Romanov. After the fight, he called for a fight against Marcin Tybura, who was supposed to be the fighter to welcome him to the Octagon earlier this year.
Alexander Romanov def. Marcos Rogerio de Lima by Submission (Forearm Choke) in Round 1 (4:48)
