Rafael dos Anjos put in 20 minutes of grueling, rock solid fighting work against Rafael Fiziev in their main event bout at UFC Vegas 58 last Saturday—only to have it all end in an instant. After losing the fourth round, Fiziev came out in the fifth with guns blazing. Eighteen seconds later and it was all over and ‘Ataman’ had the 8th KO victory of his MMA career.
There were some fans, however, who felt that referee Mark Smith was a little quick on the trigger in awarding Fiziev with the stoppage win. There’s no doubt that dos Anjos went down hard from a left hook, but with just one followup strike on the ground, the stoppage came quicker than most in a sport often marked by prolonged, punishing TKOs.