Fight Night: Cup of Moscow

If anybody wants a fix of white men rolling around on the ground, this is underway. Pretty evenly matched card overall, top-to-bottom.

Legal live stream: www.bk-tv.ru

 

Blurb from Combat Press:

Spotlight Fight:
Marif Piraev (11-0-1) vs. Kirill Sukhomlinov (19-5)
This week’s action is heavy on Russian up-and-comers. While ACB goes down in Nalchik, Russia, the Fight Nights promotion heads to Moscow for its latest venture. Murad Machaev, at 16-1, and Oleg Borisov, at 13-1, are fighters to keep an eye on, but undefeated welterweight Marif Piraev is the prospect with the toughest test in front of him. The 23-year-old meets 24-fight veteran Kirill Sukhomlinov.

Piraev made his pro debut in 2011 with the Fight Nights promotion and has remained perfect through 12 fights, posting 11 wins and a draw. The “Lion of Dagestan,” who trains alongside the likes of Vitaly Minakov, Ali Bagautinov and Gasan Umalatov, has a background in boxing and sambo. He has displayed solid striking to accompany a ground game that has led to seven submission victories. The young fighter is still developing and only recently graduated from fighting inexperienced, mediocre competition to fighting fellow prospects. His first test came against Benjamin Brinsa, who was briefly under contract with the UFC before the promotion realized that it might have a Neo-Nazi hooligan on its hands. Piraev needed less than two and a half minutes to hand Brinsa, who was undefeated through 13 fights at the time, a triangle choke-submission loss. His next fight, against Luiz Cado Simon, ended in a draw, but Piraev returned with three more wins, all in the first round. Those victories came against a mixed bag of competition, however.

Sukhomlinov has been plying his trade as a professional since 2007. He has 19 wins and just five losses to show for his efforts. The 27-year-old is a submission specialist who likes to hunt for armbars and chokes. He is coming off a loss and sits at just 2-2 through his last four fights. Sukhomlinov has only fought once a year since 2013, and this will mark his first fight of 2015.

Sukhomlinov has played spoiler to grappling-heavy prospects in the past, so Piraev isn’t looking at an easy win. Yet, the 23-year-old’s recent streak of first-round submission finishes is reassuring. Sukhomlinov had gone 23 fights without ever succumbing to a submission, but he’s emerging from a triangle-choke defeat in his most recent outing against Oleg Bagov. Perhaps the grappler is losing his edge on the mat, in which case Piraev could take advantage and score the finish.
Piraev’s biggest weakness might be his willingness to sacrifice position and even fight off his back in hopes of attacking with submissions. That won’t help him against a fellow grappler like Sukhomlinov. Piraev is going to have to maintain top position and play it conservative when he attacks with armbars. If he loses position, he could find himself on the receiving end of the submission.

Sukhomlinov’s experience will come in handy, but Piraev appears to be the real deal. Sukhomlinov has played the gatekeeper role for other prospects, coming up short against the likes of David Khatchatryan on two occasions. He’s in a similar position here. There might be plenty of entertaining scrambles and reversals, but Piraev should maintain the upper hand. “Piranha” might not be able to finish the fight in the first round — or at all, for that matter — but if he can’t stop Sukhomlinov, Piraev will still do enough to walk away with the judges’ nod.

Other key bouts: Murad Machaev (16-1) vs. Islam Begidov (5-4), Oleg Borisov (13-1) vs. Beslan Afoshagov (5-0), Movlid Khaibulaev (4-0) vs. Dmitry Korobeynikov (4-5), Grachik Engibaryan (3-0) vs. Vadim Buseev (0-0-1)

 

This fight that just started is pretty decent even though it has been spent largely on the ground (not my cup of tea).

Constant sub attempts or counters, neither just lying there or going for a GnP mount, working elbows and jockeying for positional control to set up a sub every second.

I don't know their names.

Both are fully clothed (except for socks) with sheer long-sleeve workout shirts and trunks over under stretchy pants - is that how they generally roll in Russia? :huh

 

Ali Bagautinov takes it via choke (I think) while in his opponent's guard in the waning moments of the 1st.

That was a good five minutes of action.