After the last half-year proved to be one to forget for him, Magomed Umalatov is back in a big way, scoring a first-round knockout of Anthony Ivy during the early card of the PFL World Tournament semifinals event in Nashville, Tennessee.
Umalatov stuffed an early takedown attempt from Ivy and appeared to do damage with a knee to the body. He then got the better of Ivy on the ground, showing off effective pressure and ground-and-pound.
Ivy made his way back to his feet, but as he tried to push forward, Umalatov cracked him with a quick left hand. Another one from Umalatov immediately after then sent him crashing to the mat face-first, as Umalatov immediately celebrated before the referee officially stepped in to wave off the bout.
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Umalatov finished as the runner-up in the 2024 PFL welterweight tournament, falling short against fellow countryman Shamil Musaev. It was the first loss of Umalatov's MMA career, and he fell just short again of a PFL title.
Umalatov then was scheduled to compete in the welterweight portion of the PFL World Tournament this year before missing weight and medical issues forced him off his originally scheduled bout with Logan Storley in April.
Ivy, who missed weight for this bout, was riding a seven-fight win streak, coming into this bout off a submission of Jaleel Willis in a showcase bout during last year's PFL Playoffs.