C.B. Dollaway’s short-notice matchup against Khalid Murtazaliev ended up being one of the biggest headlines out of UFC Moscow for all of the wrong reasons.
Dollaway faced Octagon newcomer Murtazaliev on less than a week’s notice earlier this month at UFC Moscow after his first two scheduled opponents, Omari Akhmedov and Artem Frolov, withdrew from the middleweight contest due to injuries. Dollaway lost the fight via second-round TKO, but it was the way he lost the fight that ignited a firestorm of controversy among the mixed martial arts world. In one of the most egregious late stoppages in recent UFC history, referee Herb Dean allowed Dollaway to eat a legitimately frightening amount of uncontested punishment in the closing minute of the second frame.