Curtis Blaydes eked out a closely contested split decision victory over DWCS alum Rizvan Kuniev at UFC Baku on Saturday night.
It was a relatively uneventful opening round with Blaydes relying on his grappling to limit Kuniev’s offense. With a minute to go in the first, Kuniev managed to finally break away, but failed to land anything substantial, and ended up back in the clinch seconds before the horn.
After surrendering the first five minutes to Blaydes, Kuniev finally started to find his timing, landing combinations at will and causing some swelling on the face of the former interim title challenger. Blaydes only attempted one takedown in the second stanza, which Kuniev fended off.
The third round saw ‘Razor’ go back to his grappling, once again stifling Rizvan’s offense. Rizvan attempted a late flurry as the final seconds ticked off the clock, but in the end, it wasn’t enough to secure him a victory in his promotional debut.
Official Result: Curtis Blaydes def. Rizvan Kuniev via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
