In one of the most anticipated match-ups of ONE: CONQUEST OF HEROES, Saygid “Dagi” Guseyn Arslanaliev burst into the ONE Lightweight World Title picture with a stunning knockout of Timofey Nastyukhin.
Both exciting lightweight contenders are known for their explosive finishing prowess, but it was Turkey’s Arslanaliev who made his count.
He sent out a message to his peers by picking up a TKO win at the 1:57 mark of the first round at in Jakarta, Indonesia on Saturday, 22 September.
It was all action from the opening bell, with Russia’s Nastyukhin landing the first solid shots.
A counter right hand sent Arslanaliev backwards and a hard low kick dropped him to the mat.
The power of the man from Novokuznetsk seemed to be giving the Dagestan-born “Dagi” problems.
However, the tables turned once the newly-promoted Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt managed to close the distance.
With Nastyukhin defending a single-leg takedown up against the fence, Arslanaliev kicked his standing leg out from underneath him and unleashed a salvo of unstoppable left hooks as the Russian tried to climb to his feet.
The barrage sent him straight back down, and Arslanaliev finished the job by opening up with a fast flurry of punches that left the referee no choice but to jump in and end the contest.
Arslanaliev improved his impressive record to 6-1 and maintained his 100 percent finishing rate.
A victory over such a highly-regarded contender should launch him into the mix with the top contenders in the talent-stacked lightweight division.