Phil Hawes and Roman Dolidze fought at UFC Vegas 63 after each earning impressive knockout wins on the UFC Austin card earlier this year.
Hawes rebounded from his first UFC loss with his best showing yet as he brutally beat down Deron Winn before getting the knockout in the second round to move his UFC record to 4-1. Meanwhile Georgian Dolidze knocked out Kyle Daukaus in little over a minute to also achieve a 4-1 record in the promotion.
Someone’s ‘1’ had to go on Saturday as a result.
The pair came out pawing at each other from the open stance, Dolidze starting as a southpaw. Early on Phil Hawes had two matrix moments as he ducked under head kicks, a la Rafael Fiziev, drawing reactions from the small Apex crowd.
Two minutes in, Hawes did a duck under and got to the back of Dolidze, then took him down into full guard. However, Dolidze slammed nasty elbows to the top of Hawes’ head and then tried for an armbar when Hawes reacted. Hawes escaped, but Dolidze went for a leg lock and when Hawes escaped he seemed to blow his knee out.
Roman backed off, thinking the fight was over, but Big Dan Mirgliotta inexplicably let the fight continue even as Hawes walked around essentially dragging his leg on the mat behind him. However, after about thirty seconds, Hawes somehow started to move almost normally on that leg. But it was not to be. The leg gave out again and when Hawes got back to his feet he ate a series of massive hooks and fell to the canvas, out cold.
Official Result: Roman Dolidze def. Phil Hawes by KO, Round 1, 4:09
