Eric Nolan, in search of his first UFC victory, welcomed Farman Hasanov to the promotion at UFC Baku on Saturday, in a welterweight fight that served as the card’s featured prelim.
Azerbaijan’s own Hasanov was debuting at home, 5-0 to start his professional MMA career, with three of those wins coming under the LFA banner. A bit of an early arrival to the UFC perhaps, with the signing clearly due to the UFC’s return to Baku.
30 seconds in, Hasanov quickly got the takedown. On the back, Nolan kept working back to his feet, but Hasanov kept hitting mat returns and staying all over him. Nolan refused to accept the bottom position, but Hasanov stayed glued to him the entire time. He eventually got both legs and dragged Nolan down away from the cage.
Hasanov’s lack of refined jiu-jitsu showed in his inability to keep Nolan down cleanly, but he never let go for a second. He dominated positionally, though it came at a high energy cost heading into round two.
Early in round two, Hasanov immediately attacked a leg again, and Nolan went down fairly easily. He briefly worked to mount, but Nolan scrambled right back up. Hasanov was visibly tired now, and it showed on his shots, but he still pressed forward and remained stronger in the clinch. Nolan wasn’t getting much offense going, with his main hope being that Hasanov would completely gas.
Still, Nolan started doing the right things to force the pace—getting to his knees, working kimuras, and creating scrambles. Hasanov was definitely fading, and Nolan began to have more success as the round went on. But Hasanov stayed committed, and Nolan’s focus on chasing him led to a careless moment where he was taken down again. Hasanov’s lack of control was a limitation, but his wrestling and pressure were still enough to take him into round three.
By the final round, Nolan needed a complete shift in momentum. Hasanov was exhausted to start round three, and Nolan opened up with some clean jabs. Hasanov wasn’t shooting as early, giving Nolan more opportunities, but Nolan was still a bit hesitant. Eventually, Hasanov shot in again, got to the legs, and dumped Nolan beautifully.
He briefly took the back but allowed Nolan to work back to his knees and eventually to his feet. As the round progressed, Nolan found it harder and harder to get separation. Hasanov wasn’t landing much damage, but he was clearly winning the minutes by a wide margin. Nolan did manage to get back up with about 30 seconds left, but he was never able to create the space he needed.
