Razhabali Shaidulloev beat AJ McKee by unanimous decision in the Super RIZIN 5 main event on Thursday, keeping his RIZIN featherweight title and claiming the vacant PFL featherweight championship at Kyocera Dome Osaka in Japan.
All three judges scored it 30-27 for Shaidulloev (also spelled Shaydullaev), who moved to 20-0. McKee dropped to 25-3 in front of an announced crowd of 48,968.
It was the first fight to put both promotions’ featherweight titles on the line at once, with the winner leaving the ring as champion of each.
McKee had the first big moment, hurting Shaidulloev almost as soon as the fight started. Shaidulloev recovered, dragged McKee to the mat and went to work with elbows and punches from the top.
From there, Shaidulloev won most of the grappling exchanges. McKee pushed for a late finish in the third round and briefly took his back during a scramble, but it wasn’t enough to swing a round on the cards.
The win came with a first for Shaidulloev. He had never been to a third round as a pro, and he had finished every opponent he’d beaten before Thursday.
McKee, a former Bellator featherweight champion, came in on a three-fight winning streak. This was his second appearance in the RIZIN ring.
Elsewhere on the card, Mikuru Asakura knocked out Shinya Aoki with punches at 2:39 of the first round, and Ren Hiramoto edged Karshyga Dautbek by split decision.
