It certainly wasn’t pretty, but the Toshiomi Kazama vs. Charalampos Grigoriou got pretty wild in the second round.
The bantamweight bout was the opening main card bout at UFC Vegas 95 on Saturday at the APEX. After Kazama delivered a wrestling and grappling-heavy first round — taking his opponent’s back for much of the stanza — Grigoriou came out on fire in Round 2, dropping Kazama and delivering huge ground-and-pound, but Kazama was able to survive.
He didn’t just survive, he secured a beautiful triangle choke, forcing Grigoriou to submit to cap off the wild fight.
Check out the closing moments in the video below.
Toshiomi Kazama pulls off the thrilling submission win at #UFCVegas95! pic.twitter.com/9awI4SRtf9
— MMA Fighting (@MMAFighting) August 10, 2024
The official time of the stoppage was 1:55 into Round 2.
Kazama was potentially fighting for his job on the UFC roster as he entered the fight as a massive underdog. The 27-year-old was stopped in both of his octagon appearances prior to the biggest win of his career.
Grigoriou is now 0-2 as a UFC fighter after earning a contract on the Contender Series.
