Sport24.az
The "UFC Fight Night" tournament in Azerbaijan was organized at a high level. Sport24.az reports that this was stated to "Report" by Azad Asgarov, president of the Azerbaijan MMA and Grappling Federation.
He emphasized that Azerbaijani fighters Nazim Sadykhov and Rafael Fiziev performed as expected and won: "Nazim Sadykhov and Rafael Fiziev turned out as we thought. Only Tofig Musayev had problems, he unexpectedly lost. He lost to his opponent in wrestling. Each of us has lost or won in fights. But losing is not weakness. Tofig still has fights and a contract ahead. God willing, he will prove himself and make us happy. He is an experienced athlete, he understands this himself. In fact, Tofig could have refused the fight. Because his opponent came with more weight than originally agreed. But he showed courage and fought. He proved that the opponent's condition does not matter to him. Nazim's fight was also interesting. Also, a lot of attention was paid to Rafael. Of course, we paid attention to the representatives of Azerbaijan, to their every movement, to the details. We wanted them not to make mistakes and to win. Expectations regarding both of them were justified and they won."
The head of the organization also spoke about the main fight of the night between Jamal Hill and Khalil Rountree: "As I said about Tofig, other athletes may face similar situations. For example, if an athlete is American, the time difference may play a role. There must be adaptation. True, we can think that they have been in Baku for 10 days. But it is impossible to know whether they have adapted or not. Maybe their minds are distracted. Because we don't know those athletes. Those who know them better can give an accurate opinion. Maybe that's their fighting style. In addition, physical condition may change with age. We cannot criticize one and praise the other."
The head of the federation also shared his thoughts on the referees: "I would like to touch upon the fight between Russian Tagir Ulanbekov and Kazakh Maksum Azat. In my opinion, Azat was more active and superior to his opponent. Of course, this is my personal opinion. The referees made their decision according to their own thoughts. Since I am in sports, I would give the victory to the Kazakh fighter. If the fight is neck and neck, then whoever is more active and mobile, whose punches are stronger, the victory should be given to him. I thought the Kazakh athlete would win. It remained unclear to me why the victory was given to the Russian athlete."
He highly appreciated the organization of the "UFC Fight Night" tournament: "My impressions of the competition are generally very good. The organizers paid attention to every detail. The atmosphere was beautiful. Thousands of people came to the hall. Also, the organization was at a high level. In fact, the organization is high during such competitions in Azerbaijan. There can be no one from abroad who will leave here dissatisfied. Azerbaijan is really making a name for itself in the world with its organization. This is also an advertisement for our country."
It should be noted that at the "UFC Fight Night" tournament held in Baku Crystal Hall, Azerbaijani athletes Nazim Sadykhov won against Brazilian Nicolas Motta, and Rafael Fiziev won against Ignacio Bahamondes from Chile. Tofig Musayev lost the duel with Myktybek Orolbai from Kyrgyzstan. In the main match of the tournament, US representatives Jamal Hill and Khalil Rountree faced each other. The fight in the light heavyweight division lasted five rounds. Rountree was eventually declared the winner.
