Said Nurmagomedov knows he has a devastating guillotine choke and Muin Gafurov found that out the hard way at UFC 294 on Saturday.
Just moments after the fight started, Gafurov looked to close the distance to get inside for a potential takedown attempt but Nurmagomedov countered by quickly latching onto his favorite submission. As soon as Nurmagomedov had the guillotine choke locked, Gafurov was tapping but referee Marc Goddard was on the other side and didn’t see it immediately.
A split second later, Nurmagomedov actually released the hold on his own with Gafurov collapsing to the canvas as the fight came to an end at just 1:13 in the opening round.
SAID NURMAGOMEDOV IN JUST OVER A MINUTE
— UFC (@ufc) October 21, 2023
Guillotine gets the tap to open the #UFC294 main card! pic.twitter.com/rdtAxNpOd6
“I feel great,” Nurmagomedov said afterwards. “I really was preparing for this fight after the last one. Yeah, this is my key, this is what I do.”
Known for his long range and reach, Nurmagomedov wasted no time throwing a kick at Gafurov as soon as the fight got started. Gafurov had no desire to play that game with Nurmagomedov, which led to him immediately pressuring forward to close the distance.
Once Gafurov made the ill-fated mistake to duck his head down while diving towards the legs, Nurmagomedov seized on the opening for the power guillotine choke that ended the fight just seconds later.
The win puts Nurmagomedov back on track after he suffered a loss to Jonathan Martinez in his previous outing while moving his overall UFC record to 7-2.
