That's why he was tasked with winning another bout even after already having earned his title shot. Being the massive betting favourite he was, Tsarukyan had the pressure of not only beating Dan Hooker but doing so in a way that would cement his number one contender status. That's what he accomplished as he battered the Kiwi on his way to a second-round submission stoppage.
As the UFC's ESPN era draws to a close, there has been a noticeable lack of Fight of the Night bonuses awarded, with the promotion instead selecting Performance bonuses more often than not. For the fourth consecutive event, that was the case on Saturday, with four Performance of the Night bonuses instead handed out at UFC Qatar. Among the winners, the returning Kyoji Horiguchi, and short-notice heavyweight Waldo Cortes-Acosta.
Izagakhmaev opened the bout by firing a right cross, but Dalby immediately clinched and pressed him to the cage. They spent some time trading knees in that position until the referee broke them apart. Dalby went back to working his kicks, mixing high and low targets, and again pushed Izagakhmaev to the fence. This time Izagakhmaev managed to briefly reverse, but Dalby rotated off and shot a takedown. Izagakhmaev's base held strong, allowing him to land on top,
The first real action came early, with Bujło opening the fight by chopping at Freeman's lead leg. Both spent the opening minutes trading low kicks in a cautious feeling-out process. Freeman did time one of Bujło's kicks with a clean straight and followed it by going high with his signature head kick. He mixed in rear-leg body kicks as well, giving Bujło different looks, but overall both men stayed patient and threw single strikes at a time.
