It may have taken him nearly three years to do so, but Ramiz Brahimaj finally burst back into the win column in impressive fashion at UFC 309 by starching the veteran Mickey Gall in less than a round. Keeping the New Jersey native on the defensive throughout the two minute contest, Brahimaj found his target and landed a powerful right hook to the side of Gall’s temple. It didn’t take long then for the Fortis MMA athlete to pounce with a flurry of ground strikes to finish his opponent and record his first victory since February 2022.
That last win came against Ultimate Fighter Season 29 alternate Micheal Gillmore, whom Brahimaj choked out in only two minutes. For the next couple of years of his career, he then would find himself struggling to even make it into the cage, as scheduled bouts versus Michael Morales and Carlston Harris ultimately fizzled out. It wasn’t until May of this year that the New York native was able to at last step inside the Octagon, where he wound up dropping a unanimous decision to the rising Zimbabwean prospect, Themba Gorimbo.
On the other side of things, Gall had been going through a rough patch of his own. Following a first round rear naked choke shutdown of Jordan Williams in July 2021, the CM Punk slayer embarked on an unfortunate three-bout losing streak, including two unanimous decision defeats to Alex Morono and Bassil Hafez. He also was brought down brutally by Mike Malott at UFC 273, with the Canadian putting Gall away with strikes in just three minutes. On the last legs of his time in the promotion, the skidding Gall needed a rebound of his own at UFC 309, which was dominantly dashed by a resurging Brahimaj.
On the early prelims to one of the last pay-per-views of the year, Brahimaj had to make a statement to UFC fans around the world, as well as the rest of the division, that he is a fighter to look out for; he did just that. He also netted a sweet $50,000 bonus for his troubles after being awarded a Performance of the Night prize, the first performance bonus of his UFC tenure. He then proceeded to rally his hometown crowd with a rousing speech to cap off a swell night at the office. On a side note, this was the first time Brahimaj had ended a fight via KO/TKO, having scored all of his previous ten victories by submission.
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With such an incredible stoppage over a battle-tested name under his belt, Brahimaj has all the makings of becoming a fan-favorite competitor, should he continue to keep putting on such captivating performances. Looking like he has found new confidence in his striking, Brahimaj has seemed to become a completely well rounded fighter right before the very eyes of everyone in attendance at UFC 309. In 2025, it will be interesting to see how far he can continue to climb up the leaderboard in a division packed to the brim with stacked competition like welterweight.
