Asu Almabayev left the Octagon with more than just his first UFC loss on Saturday night.
Almabayev clashed with Manel Kape in the evening’s main event on just a few weeks’ notice after Kape’s original opponent Brandon Royval bowed out of the bout. Almabayev walked into the fight on an impressive 17-fight win streak, but it was ‘Starboy’ who would come out on top, handily defeating the Kazakh and earning himself a third-round TKO.
However, the win did come with a heap of controversy after Kape inadvertently poked Almabayev in the eye during the opening rounds and then appeared to scrape his opponent’s eye multiple times before the stoppage came.