Bilal Hasan suffers first career loss in shocking upset against Luis Gurule at UFC 334

A huge upset happened in the kickoff fight of the main card of UFC 334 at Madison Square Garden. Bilal Hasan, who entered as more than a -1100 favorite to win against Luis Gurule, was outpointed and suffered his first defeat. 

Hasan earned a UFC contract with an impressive knockout victory over Mridul Saikia in under a minute at Dana White's Contender Series season 10, week 1 back on August 11. He made a quick turnaround in just 18 days to make his debut. He delivered another knockout and defeated Nilson Rojas in the second round. That earned him the Performance of the Night bonus. 

These back-to-back knockouts have gained him significant fans, and this impressive striking made him a huge star in the promotion, which got him a spot directly on the main card of UFC 334 in just his second fight. 

Heavy favorite Bilal Hasan stunned by Luis Gurule in UFC 334 main card opener

‘The IndoNinja’ entered the contest with great momentum and a professional record of 10-0, 1 NC, while his opponent, Gurule, had one win and four losses in the promotion, making him a huge underdog.

Hasan started with leg kicks. He landed a great head kick at 50 seconds in the opening round. The Indonesian-American maintained distance with kicks, making it hard for Gurule to land strikes. 

Despite that, Gurule seemed calm and composed, continuing to land great inside leg kicks. The biggest moment of the round came when ‘Grim’ dropped ‘The IndoNinja’ with a clean right hand with 1:30 remaining. 

In the second round, Hasan landed beautiful knees to the body in the clinch, while Gurule doubled down on inside leg kicks. However, Hasan maintained distance with in-and-out striking and landed a spinning backfist. Gurule secured a takedown with 1:36 remaining and landed a few elbows from the top, and the round ended. 

Gurule landed a nice right hand and a takedown in the third round. During the takedown, Hasan landed an elbow that cut 'Grim', and the takedown came in the first minute of the round. He stayed on top, landing shots with 'The IndoNinja' on the bottom, and dominated him on the ground for the rest of the round.

Two judges scored the fight 29-28 in favor of Gurule, while one scored it 29-28 for Hasan. With that, ‘Grim’ secured a split-decision victory, just his second win in the promotion, while pulling off a huge upset.