Given the way he handled himself inside the Octagon in February, you wouldn’t have been out of line to assume that Ismail Naurdiev was already a fixture in the UFC welterweight division.
Paired off with surging Brazilian Michel Prazeres, who entered on an eight-fight winning streak split between lightweight and welterweight, Naurdiev played to the crowd in Prague as he was introduced by Bruce Buffer, fist-bumping “The Veteran Voice of the Octagon” in the process. When the action got underway, he calmly and coolly stuffed Prazeres’ first takedown attempt, showcasing excellent balance and feeding the veteran a steady diet of kicks to keep him from crashing forward without hesitation.