Geoff Neal probably left the cage with a bittersweet taste in his mouth.
The Fortis MMA mainstay kept his place in the Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight line, as he was awarded a technical knockout over Rafael dos Anjos after the grizzled Brazilian veteran suffered a knee injury in the first round of their featured UFC 308 prelim on Saturday at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Referee Mark Smith waved it off 1:30 into Round 1, with dos Anos (32-18, 21-15) clutching at his left leg on his 40th birthday.
Neal (16-6, 8-4 UFC) was the aggressor from the start. He dropped the Nova Uniao star with a crisp one-two and even delivered a surprise takedown, though he chose to disengage and stand on both occasions. Soon after, another left hand clanged off the side of dos Anjos’ head, his knee buckling beneath him in an anticlimactic fight-ending sequence.
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Meanwhile, former Vendetta Fight Nights champion Ibo Aslan dispatched previously unbeaten promotional newcomer Raffael Cerqueira with punches in the first round of their light heavyweight encounter. Cerqueira (11-1, 0-1 UFC) checked out 51 seconds into Round 1.
Aslan (14-1, 2-0 UFC) clipped the Brazilian with a left hook, pinned him to the fence and cut loose with brutal punches to the head and body. Cerqueira stayed upright but appeared to be out on his feet more than once. He covered up along the cage, ate one shot after another and left referee Marc Goddard no choice but to intervene.
The 28-year-old Aslan has rattled off six straight wins.
Further down the undercard, American Top Team’s Mateusz Rebecki outlasted Myktybek Orolbai to a split verdict in a gory three-round bloodbath at a 160-pound catchweight. All three members of the cageside judiciary submitted 29-28 scorecards: Sal D’Amato and Ben Cartlidge for Rebecki, Jacob Montalvo for Orolbai.
The 32-year-old Rebecki (20-2, 4-1 UFC) blasted the Team Alpha Male export with a series of overhand lefts in the first round that resulted in a grotesque hematoma that all but swelled Orolbai’s right eye shut. The cageside physician examined the damage before giving him the go-ahead to continue. Orolbai (13-2-1, 2-1 UFC) rebounded in the middle stanza, where he upped the pressure and benefitted from an inadvertent clash of heads that resulted in a cut to his counterpart’s right brow. Blood spurted from the wound, drenching the canvas and both men. Rebecki nearly finished it in Round 3, as he decked Osh, Kyrgyzstan, native with a crushing left hook and unleashed a hellacious barrage of ground-and-pound. Orolbai somehow withstood the assault but emerged with a badly bloody nose as he made his way back to his feet seemingly on auto pilot. They went tit for tat down the stretch, brining an appreciative crowd to its feet with a likely “Fight of the Year” contender.
Rebecki has won 17 of his past 18 bouts.
Elsewhere, UFD Gym rep Abusupiyan Magomedov disposed of Brunno Ferreira with an arm-triangle choke in the third round of their back-and-forth middleweight battle. Ferreira (12-2, 3-2 UFC) raised the white flag 3:14 into Round 3, suffering the first submission defeat of his 14-fight career.
Magomedov (27-6-1, 3-2 UFC) conducted business on the feet and on the ground, but he did not escape unscathed. Ferreira staggered him with a right hand and immediately followed it with a head kick in the middle stanza. Magomedov then freed himself from a guillotine choke and managed to regain at least some of his faculties during their exchange on the mat. He waded through fatigue in the third round, completed a pair of takedowns and eventually climbed to full mount. From there, Magomedov framed the arm-triangle, settled in half guard and tightened his squeeze for the tapout.
The 34-year-old Magomedov has recorded back-to-back victories since his UFC Fight Night 232 decision loss to Caio Borralho in November.
Deeper into the draw, Fortis MMA product Kennedy Nzechukwu put away former Island Fights champion Chris Barnett with a knee strike to the body and follow-up punches in the first round of their heavyweight confrontation. A late-notice replacement for Justin Tafa, Barnett (23-9, 2-3 UFC) succumbed to blows 4:27 into Round 1.
Nzechukwu (13-5, 7-5 UFC) maximized his height and reach advantages, as he zeroed in on his counterpart with jabs, slashing left hands and a series of front kicks to the body. Barnett suffered a significant leg injury at some point, and it reduced him to little more than a sitting duck. Nzechukwu swarmed the visibly compromised Georgia-based heavyweight behind a knee to the midsection, drove him to the mat in a defensive shell and prompted the stoppage with one final burst of punches.
The victory snapped a two-fight losing streak for Nzechukwu.
Finally, undefeated Xtreme Couture standout Farid Basharat called upon clean combination punching, effective counters, timely takedowns and deft footwork in claiming a unanimous decision from Victor Hugo in their three-round featherweight scrap. All three cageside judges scored it for Basharat (13-0, 4-0 UFC): 30-27, 29-28 and 29-28.
Hugo (25-5, 1-1 UFC) fought well in spurts—he made passes at multiple leglocks, connected with spinning back elbows and landed with authority on occasion—but had no real answer for his opponent’s overwhelming offensive variety. Basharat piled up points with surgical right hands, stinging leg kicks and sharp one-twos, all while slipping smoothly in and out of range. He snuck behind Hugo late in the third round, secured his position with a body triangle and applied his ground-and-pound to punctuate his latest performance.
The loss was Hugo’s first since March 22, 2014 and closed the book on his 14-fight winning streak.
In other action, Ismail Naurdiev (24-7, 3-2 UFC) cruised to a unanimous decision over onetime M-1 Global titleholder Bruno Silva (23-12, 4-6 UFC) in a three-round middleweight affair, sweeping the scorecards with matching 30-27 marks; and American Top Team’s Rinat Fakhretdinov (23-1-1, 5-0-1 UFC) took a controversial unanimous decision from former Legacy Fighting Alliance champion Carlos Leal Miranda (21-6, 0-1 UFC)—a short-notice substitution for Nursulton Ruziboev—in a three-round welterweight clash, drawing 29-28, 29-28 and 30-27 scores from the cageside judges.
