Dominick Reyes knocks out Azamat Murzakanov at UFC 333
UFC 333 couldn't have gone any better for Dominick Reyes, who knocked out Azamat Murzakanov to go on another win streak.
Dominick Reyes silenced all doubters at UFC 333, authoring one of his fines performances in a while. He completely dismantled the heavy-handed Azamat Murzakanov, setting up an explosive first-round knockout.
UFC 333 was the perfect night for Dominick Reyes
Ahead of his fight with Azamat Murzakanov, there were concerns for Dominick Reyes. Since his controversial unanimous decision loss to Jon Jones at UFC 247 back in 2020, the prevailing thought was that he was damaged goods, but he has since revitalized himself, and the win over Murzakanov at UFC 333 was evidence of that. The moment the fight started, Reyes immediately targeted Murzakanov's exposed lead leg with low kicks, repeatedly blasting his opponent's calf. It wasn't long before a low kick knocked Murzakanov out of his stance, forcing him to reset.
Wobbled by low kicks but forced to continue coming forward due to their height and reach difference, Murzakanov started to preemptively slide his lead leg out of range, while dropping his hands to try and catch Reyes' kicks. Having picked up on his opponent's reactions, Reyes unleashed a big high kick. Expecting a low kick, Murzakanov dropped his hands and slid his lead leg back, only for Reyes' high kick to wrap around the back of his head. Rocked, Murzakanov tried to play it off, but as he retreated, 'The Devastator' floored him with a left straight, forcing him to turtle up. Reyes pounced with ground-and-pound, and the referee wasted no time, stepping in to wave the fight off.
It took Reyes a little under three minutes, and he is now on a two-fight win streak, having previously scored a split-decision win over Johnny Walker at UFC 327. However, while 'The Devastator' is now on a purple patch and will look to continue building his win streak, Murzakanov is now in an unfamiliar spot, having gone from being undefeated at 16-0 to now being on a two-fight losing streak, with a previous loss to Paulo Costa via third-round TKO at UFC 327.
The loss to Reyes will be a bitter pill for him to swallow, as he came into the fight in the best shape of his UFC run, but he will now have to go back to the drawing board.
