For the first time in the promotion’s history, the UFC headed to Azerbaijan for a Fight Night event, with their June 21 card taking place at the Baku Crystal Hall in Baku, the country’s capital city.
In addition to fighters connected with Azerbaijan throughout the card, the main event featured a former UFC light heavyweight champion trying to get back to winning ways against a top-10 contender, as Jamahal Hill took on Khalil Rountree Jr.
Hill had previously won the light heavyweight title but vacated due to injury. He entered tonight on a pair of losses since then, getting knocked out by Alex Pereira at UFC 300 in an attempt to try and win back the gold and getting stopped by Jiri Prochazka at UFC 311. Rountree, meanwhile, had won five straight before it was snapped at UFC 307 — his most recent fight prior to this card — when he challenged Pereira for the UFC light heavyweight title.
The co-main event of the evening saw Rafael Fiziev look to snap a three-fight losing skid, as he took on Ignacio Bahamondes, who entered with three straight wins and victories in six of his last seven.
The main card also featured the return of former interim title challenger Curtis Blaydes, as he took on the UFC debutant Rizvan Kuniev. It also saw a catchweight bout between Tofiq Musayev and Myktybek Orolbai, a lightweight clash featuring Nazim Sadykov and Nikolas Motta and a featherweight battle between Muhammad Naimov and Bogdan Grad.
Who delivered? Who dropped the ball? Let’s find out with the hits and misses of UFC Baku!
Miss: Many Decisions, Just Two Post-Fight Bonuses
I don’t want to sound like one of these people where it’s a big finish or bust. There can be just as great fights that are expert grapple battles as fights that are slugfests. There are fights that can go the distance that are still great fights — sometimes, even better fights than the ones that have a big, quick highlight finish.
But the problem is, we didn’t get much of that at UFC Baku.
Only two fights on the whole card ended in decision. The main card, which aired on ABC in America, even started in the middle of the final prelim because of the pacing and the fact no prelim fights had finishes.
Most of the prelim fights, additionally, didn’t bring the excitement we’ve seen with prelims from other cards. One of the jokes around MMA X/Twitter of the event’s fallout is comparing UFC Baku to an Apex with people in the audience seen leaving the card early.
I’ll be more blunt and say I think this card was worse than some of the ones we’ve seen in the Apex.
Even Dana White seemed to agree, awarding all of the bonus money only to Nadim Sadykhov and Nikloas Motta for their exciting clash — and it’s deserved.
The UFC’s first-ever event in Baku might be an accomplishment; however, the card itself was a major disappointment.
Miss: Questionable Judging
And speaking of fights that ended in decision, how is it 2025 and we’re still having talks about judges and atrocious decisions?
Unfortunately, it seems Baku was hit with a couple of decisions from supposed MMA officials that left MMA fans scratching their heads in confusion, disbelief, and perplexity.
Azat Maksum put on a heart-filled showing against Tagir Ulanbekov, the 12th-ranked flyweight in the UFC. His reward? Winning only one round on all judge’s card across all three scorecards. A portion of the crowd booed the cards, and even UFC commentary called out the judges for their questionable scoring.
Then came the main card bout between Curtis Blaydes and Rizvan Kuniev. Blaydes definitely won the first round with his wrestling ability, but Kuniev did some damage over the course of the next two rounds — and some might feel it was more than what Blaydes delivered and should have been given the nod.
It was a close fight for sure, so feel how you feel. But if we’re going by how many in the online MMA community feel, this was just another blow to their intelligence.
Unfortunately, I know the answer to this is never, but I’ll keep yelling it: When are we going to start holding MMA officials (referees, judges, etc.) accountable for how they perform in fights, too?
Hit: Ko Seok-hyun Scores Major Upset In UFC Debut
Oban Elliott has had quite a bit of attention on him as a rising up-and-comer out of Europe. “The Welsh Gangster” entered UFC Baku 3-0 in the Octagon since his 2023 appearance on Dana White’s Contender Series. And up against Ko Seok-hyun, who was making his UFC debut, most felt this was going to be another strong performance from Elliott.
Seok-hyun had other plans, however.
A +370 underdog as of about 12 hours prior to the start of his fight, Seok-hyun landed a hard left hand and then let his judo abilities take over. Seok-hyun took Elliott to the ground and landed with power at will, even opening a cut on Elliott at one point, as he dominated his way into a decision victory.
Elliott will probably rebound from this, but the focus here should be on a great UFC debut for the man who is dubbed “The Korean Tyson.” It will be fun to see what happens next for him in the Octagon.
Hit: Nazim Sadykhov And Nikolas Motta Deliver Fight Of The Year Candidate
As stated earlier, even Dana White agrees, there was one solo major highlight from the UFC Baku card: Nazim Sadykhov and Nikolas Motta beating each other to a bloody pulp until one dropped.
It was a slugfest that most agreed was one of the most exciting fights in MMA this year, let alone in just the UFC.
Motta appeared to have Sadykhov hurt in the first, and he landed a barrage of shots that seemed like would put him away for a quick ending to this fight. But Sadykhov held his own and then took advantage of a fatigued Motta, landing a barrage on him.
The two continued to trade in the second round before one key combination put Motta out cold and brought the crowd alive.
$100,000 between these two men is more than well deserved. I hope at the end of the year, we can look back on this fight, even if it doesn’t win Fight of the Year honors, and remember how these two gentlemen — in the midst of a card filled with so much bad — brought us eight or so minutes of exciting, wild battle.
Miss: So Much For Curtis Blaydes Being A Top Heavyweight Contender (And The Concerning State Of UFC’s Heavyweights)
As I stated earlier, Curtis Blaydes ended up getting a split decision victory after edging out Rizvan Kuniev, a former Eagle FC heavyweight champion who was making his Octagon debut on this card.
Blaydes had his fair share of shots in addition to controlling the action with his grappling and wrestling abilities, but Kiziev busted up one of his eyes and landed a stunning knee and late flurry in the third — which led plenty to believe Blaydes didn’t deserve the nod.
You obviously expect a ranked heavyweight contender, in his first fight since falling short in an interim title bout, to beat someone making their Octagon debut. But this was not in the way that’s going to earn Blaydes popularity points with the fans or Dana White.
Blaydes claimed he suffered an injury early on in the fight — but more than his own performance, it speaks to the state of the heavyweight division (especially in the wake of the breaking news of Jon Jones’ retirement).
Obviously the UFC’s rankings have to be taken with a grain of salt, but to say that was a performance from a top-five ranked contender is sad. And right now, there’s nothing that screams awesomeness and star power right now at heavyweight outside of new undisputed champion Tom Aspinall. Aspinall vs. Ciryl Gane is the best matchup we’ve got at that weight class right now.
Blaydes’ performance is a reminder that the UFC needs to find an entertaining and talented name for the heavyweight scene outside of Aspinall – STAT.
Hit: Rafael Fiziev Gets Much Needed Win In Front Of Home Crowd
Considering his talent, it might be a surprise that Rafael Fiziev hadn’t gotten a win in three years. But the Azerbaijan native, competing in his home country, got a needed showcase with a win over Ignacio Bahamondes in the co-main event.
After targeting the body in a slow opening round, Fiziev countered Bahamondes’ attempts to get inside, and then, to everyone’s surprise, used takedowns of his own to help with controlling the action. He added in a knockdown of Bahamondes before the end of the round. Fiziev then got the better of the exchanges in an action-filled third round, earning a clean-sweep decision.
After the pair of losses to Justin Gaethje, sandwiched between with an injury he suffered against Mateusz Gamrot, Fiziev is ready to take part in another lightweight contenders’ battle. Depending how future fights play out, perhaps someone in the lower part of the top-10 could be a next opponent – names that include Beneil Dariush and Renato Moicano, as well as a possible rematch with Gamrot.
Miss: A Lackluster Main Event, The Downfall Of Jamahal Hill
The UFC Baku main event between Jamahal Hill and Khalil Rountree Jr wasn’t just boring, it wasn’t even competitive. Rountree used his leg-kick-based offense and his distance work to completely take out Hill, putting on a one-sided beating in a clear decision victory.
The fault here shouldn’t lie on Rountree. As he stated after the fight, he was fighting his fight and clearly did more damage to the former champ. This was a solid victory for Rountree — and as others have mentioned, a fight between him and Jiri Prochazka sounds so appetizing with their styles.
The miss here lies on Hill.
Firstly, what is his corner doing lying to him and saying the fight is close? By the time round three ended, it was clear Rountree was up three rounds and Hill needed a finish. He could’ve fought differently had it not been for his corner telling him to fight for a decision win — a major blunder by championship-level cornermen. It’s such a blunder, in fact, I have to question their competence — which I shouldn’t be doing for the cornermen of a fighter who was just the welterweight champion a year ago.
And then for Hill to put on the showing he did and then try to talk trash after the fight about how boring it was? Let me remind him that it takes two to tango. Rountree fought a fight that got his butt whooped, and Hill did nothing about it.
I understand Hill is pretty much embracing the heel role with his trash talk and confidence-based predictions about his fights. It’s one thing to do this when you’re winning. It’s another thing to do this when you have gotten whooped three straight times and are on a three-fight losing skid.
This needs to be a wake-up call for Hill. Another loss and we can say he is on a downfall — if you don’t want to say he’s reached his peak and is on the fall already.
Just a cherry on top of a bad, bad show.
