Michal Oleksiejczuk handed Shamil Gamzatov the first loss of his career at UFC 267 in brutal fashion.
Light heavyweight action at UFC 267 in Abu Dhabi on Saturday saw Poland’s Michał Oleksiejczuk take on Shamil Gamzatov of Russia.
Gamzatov, a PFL veteran who competed at middleweight for the league before joining the UFC, was a perfect 14-0 to date in his career. Oleksiejczuk was 3-2 with a no contest under the UFC banner, and coming off a win over Modestas Bukauskas.
Both men opened up extremely quickly, particularly the underdog in Oleksiejczuk who immediately put pressure on the undefeated Gamzatov. Oleksiejczuk jumped on him quickly and began landing big right hands, and Gamzatov tried to keep the range with some oblique kicks but they weren’t doing much. Eventually, Gamzatov found a home for his own right straight but it was not getting Oleksiejczuk off of him. Oleksiejczuk soon landed a huge uppercut that landed clean that dropped Gamzatov, and a few follow-up strikes later and that’s all she wrote.
About as brutal as a loss someone can have for the first one of their career. Gamzatov got jumped on immediately with pressure and didn’t know how to answer. It was nothing short of a mugging by Oleksiejczuk, who has always been a bit inconsistent in his career, but this was a tremendous performance as an underdog that gets him back into the win column likely into the top-15 at 205 pounds.
Official Result: Michal Oleksiejczuk def. Shamil Gamzatov via knockout, 3:31 of Round One.
