One of five debuting fighters on the UFC Vegas 56 card on Saturday, welterweight Rinat Fakhretdinov was looking to extend a 15-fight win streak against Andreas Michailidis.
Fakhretdinov’s impressive run had started back in 2014, and taken him around the globe, landing in UAE Warriors for his last fight, where he dispatched UFC alum Eric Spicely in under a minute.
Fakhretdinov came out aggressive from the start and got the double leg takedown. Michailidis got back to his feet quickly. Fakhretdinov on the back kept putting Michailidis down to his knees but couldn’t keep him grounded. Michailidis finally separated and landed a heavy leg kick. Fakhretdinov reclosed the distance making this a gritty fight. Fakhretdinov attempted a single leg but Michailidis defended very well. Michailidis slipped off a spinning kick and Fakhretdinov jumped on top. Both guys had beautiful movement scrambling where Michailidis got the best of it. The round ends with them in the clinch.
Seconds into the second round Fakhretdinov got in on the legs lifted and slammed Michailidis down. More of a position was solidified for Fakhretdinov as he dominated in the guard for a large portion of the round. Fakhretdinov did move to half guard and stayed busy enough with ground and pound. Michailidis was able to get back to his feet with thirty seconds left but didn’t do anything with it.
Like in the first two rounds Fakhretdinov opened up with a takedown. Michailidis did bounce right back up. He made the mistake of shooting for a takedown himself and Fakhretdinov defended and landed on top. In half guard, Fakhretdinov was landing some good short elbows that gashed the ear of Michailidis. Michailidis with a minute left worked back to his feet but Fakhretdinov tripped him right back down. Fakhretdinov ends the round with a series of strikes and a knee to close it out.
Pure 𝑫𝑶𝑴𝑰𝑵𝑨𝑻𝑰𝑶𝑵 😤
Rinat Fakhretdinov with a beautiful performance in his UFC debut!
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— UFC (@ufc) June 4, 2022
Rinat Fakhretdinov def. Andreas Michailidis by unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-27)
