Zahabi gets UFC Fight Night upset; Oliveira wins with KO of the Year contender

Canada’s Aiemann Zahabi handed Javid Basharat the first loss of his mixed martial arts career, winning a unanimous decision on the preliminary card of Saturday’s UFC Fight Night: Rozenstruik vs. Gaziev card at the UFC APEX.

Zahabi was a five-to-one underdog, which has become a familiar spot for the 36-year-old. The Tristar Gym product has won four in a row and all four victories on his current streak have come with him as the pre-fight betting dog.

Basharat’s strikes were more precise early and he had Zahabi reacting to feints and setups. Zahabi remained poised and swung for the fences on numerous occasions, consistently looking to counter when Basharat would throw his kicks. Zahabi landed a stiff right in the waning seconds of the second round that briefly wobbled Basharat’s legs.

All three judges scored the bout three rounds to two for Zahabi. Only three bantamweights have active winning streaks longer than Zahabi’s current streak of four: Merab Dvalishvili (9), Mario Bautista (6) and Jonathan Martinez (5).

Saturday’s event marked the first of five UFC events in March.

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Sean O’Malley and Marlon Vera battle for bantamweight gold and Dustin Poirier faces Benoit Saint Denis in a five-round scrap. Watch UFC 299 on Saturday, March 9, with prelims at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT and the pay-per-view at 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT.

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In other preliminary action, Vinicius Oliveira inserted himself into the Knockout of the Year conversation when he removed Bernardo Sopaj from consciousness late in the third round of their exciting bantamweight matchup.

Both fighters were making their UFC debut and Sopaj, 23, was controlling the first half of the fight. Oliveira, 28, reversed the momentum midway through the second round and was in control throughout the final round, battering Sopaj’s legs with kicks, before landing one of the more devastating flying knee knockouts you’re likely to see in combat sports.

Eryk Anders earned a unanimous decision win over Jamie Pickett in the featured prelim. Pickett had announced prior to the fight he planned on retiring after the bout win or lose. The 35-year-old ended up going 2-7 in nine UFC appearances, notably welcoming Bo Nickal to the UFC one year ago.

Christian Leroy Duncan improved to 10-1 as a pro with an impressive showing against Claudio Ribeiro. The English middleweight secured his first takedown in the UFC, picking up his Brazilian opponent and landing in side control. He moved to mount and began raining down elbows and punches to earn a second-round technical knockout victory.

L’udovit Klein extended his winning streak to five consecutive bouts and picked up his first stoppage win since his UFC debut in 2020, putting away short-notice lightweight opponent AJ Cunningham late in the first round with body strikes. Klein was originally scheduled to face Joel Alvarez who was unable to compete at the card and had to with draw earlier in the week.

Lightweights Loik Radzhabov and Abdul-Kareem Al-Selwady kicked off the preliminary card with Radzhabov getting a TKO early in the third round. The pair of 155-pounders had split the first two rounds with Radzhabov taking the first and dropping the second before finding the finish that snapped Al-Selwady’s six-fight winning streak and spoiled his UFC debut.

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