LAS VEGAS – Yes, a doctor stopped Nazim Sadykhov’s fight vs. Ismael Bonfim at UFC Fight Night 251
on Saturday.
Why? Because of damage. And who caused damage?
“I don’t want to hear that there was a language barrier,” Sadykhov told MMA Junkie and other reporters at a post-fight news conference at the UFC Apex. “I don’t want to hear that. I caused damage. I kicked him hard.”
By the scoring criteria of the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts, damage is the goal. Sadykhov (10-1-1 MMA, 3-0-1 UFC) caused that when he drilled Bonfim (20-5 MMA, 1-1 UFC) with a slick question mark kick in Round 1. It wasn’t damage caused by a poke or another sort of foul. It wasn’t even a cut that stopped the fight. It was straight-up damage from a strike – a strike that Sadykhov revealed he specifically had put emphasis on during fight camp.
“Those head kicks we were setting those up all camp,” Sadykhov said. “I don’t know if they caught it backstage in the cameras, but we were setting that head kick up in the back. We were working that head kick in the back. That head kick was coming all night, more from me in the boxing department, in the wrestling department. It was coming all night.
“I don’t know what the language barrier or what it was, but I looked at that man before the start of Round 2 and he did not look like he wanted to be there.”
Sadykhov, 30, has found consistency in results despite a lack of consistency in frequency of competition. Saturday’s bout was his first since November 2023.
But over the past year, Sadykhov has learned a lot as he’s developed a regiment of a time-split between Syndicate MMA in Las Vegas and his original home gym of Longo and Weidman MMA (LAW MMA) on Long Island in New York. Sadykhov thinks the recipe will continue to be a working one.
“I got a place out in Vegas. I’m collabing now with Ray Longo and John Wood. It’s a killer camp I have now. I’m ready for more. I definitely want to get back in there – hopefully April, if something opens up, (I can fight again). I only have a sore calf, sore ankle. I’ll be back in the gym relatively soon getting ready for the next one.”
