July 10, 2022 12:37 am ET
LAS VEGAS – Rafael Fiziev keeps climbing up the rankings.
The UFC lightweight contender extended his winning streak on Saturday night. Fiziev (12-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC) knocked out former UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos in the main event of UFC on ESPN 39. The official stoppage came 18 seconds into the fifth round.
It was a competitive fight that seemed to slightly favor Fiziev for the majority of the fight.
In the first three rounds, dos Anjos (31-14 MMA, 20-12 UFC) looked to takedown Fiziev, but he was unable to. The former champion struggled to bring Fiziev to the mat, but did have some success controlling Fiziev for certain periods of time against the cage. However, when the fight was on the feet, Fiziev seemed to connect more and overall command the fight in that area.
In round four, dos Anjos looked significantly better. He connected the cleaner shots of the round and looked to be more active on the feet. He also got a clean takedown and managed to get control time on Fiziev.
Unfortunately for dos Anjos, the momentum he picked up quickly came to an end at the beginning of the fifth round. Fiziev clipped the Brazilian with a left hook, dropped him, and followed up with a few shots to get the fight called off.
FIZIEV ENDS IT IN THE 5TH ROUND 😲 #UFCVegas58 pic.twitter.com/qwWOk86c44
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) July 10, 2022
With this win, Fiziev’s momentum in the UFC keeps growing. The 29-year-old is on a six-fight winning streak, which includes notable names such as Bobby Green, Brad Riddell, Renato Moicano and now dos Anjos. Fiziev has only lost once in his entire professinal MMA career, coming up short in his UFC debut back in 2019.
On the other hand, dos Anjos tasted his first defeat since dropping back to lightweight. The former champion moved down from welterweight back to lightweight in late 2020. He defeated Paul Felder in his return and then followed up with a dominant decision win over Moicano. Dos Anjos is 3-3 in his past six outings.
Up-to-the-minute UFC on ESPN 39 results include:
- Rafael Fiziev def. Rafael dos Anjos via knockout (punches) – Round 5, 0:18
- Caio Borralho def. Armen Petrosyan via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
- Said Nurmagomedov def. Douglas Silva de Andrade via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
- Chase Sherman def. Jared Vanderaa via knockout (punches) – Round 3, 3:10
- Aiemann Zahabi def. Ricky Turcios via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Jamie Mullarkey def. Michael Johnson via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
- Cody Brundage def. Tresean Gore via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 3:50
- Antonina Shevchenko def. Cortney Casey via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
- David Onama def. Garrett Armfield via technical submission (arm-triangle choke) – Round 2, 3:13
- Kennedy Nzechukwu def. Karl Roberson via TKO (elbows) – Round 3, 2:19
- Saidyokub Kakhramonov def. Ronnie Lawrence via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-27, 30-27)