Andrey Pulyaev

Pulyaev survived several minutes with Ruziboev before the veteran locked on the neck crank and forced the technical submission late in the first round. The loss was a tough marker because it dropped him to 10-4 overall and underlined how punishing the margin is against a longtime finisher with Ruziboev's depth.

Key moments

• The technical submission came at 3:58 of round one.
• Pulyaev fell to 10-5 with the defeat in Baku.
• It was his third loss in four UFC-affiliated appearances counting DWCS and UFC proper.
• The result followed the UFC 324 decision loss to Ateba Abega Gautier.

Ateba Abega Gautier made Pulyaev work a full three rounds at UFC 324 and left with a unanimous decision, a result that showed Pulyaev could hang at range but still came up short against higher-tier opposition. It was the kind of loss that kept his record respectable while still leaving clear questions about how much offense carries over from the regional scene.

Key moments

• The fight went all three rounds and ended on the scorecards.
• Pulyaev lost by unanimous decision rather than being finished.
• It was his second UFC defeat in three appearances after the CLD loss and Nick Klein win.
• The loss set the stage for a high-variance stylistic matchup with Ruziboev five months later.

Pulyaev got his first UFC win by smashing Nick Klein with a body kick and follow-up punches in the second round, which remains the cleanest statement performance on his current major-league run. The finish showed exactly why the Contender Series contract translated into some optimism: when he finds the right target, his kicking and straight-line pressure can end fights fast.

Key moments

• The stoppage came at 1:31 of round two.
• Pulyaev won by body kick and punches, one of the more distinctive finishes on his record.
• It gave him his first official UFC victory after the CLD loss.
• The result kept alive the six-wins-in-eight trend noted on his UFC page.

Christian Leroy Duncan outpointed Pulyaev over three rounds in Pulyaev's UFC debut, forcing him to defend more than attack and exposing how sharp the jump from regional middleweights to UFC depth can be. It was not a blowout, but it was a clear reminder that his contract-winning DWCS performance was only the start of the adjustment.

Key moments

• Pulyaev lost a unanimous decision in his UFC debut.
• The fight went the full 15 minutes.
• It snapped the immediate post-DWCS momentum he had built in Shlemenko Fighting Championship.
• He answered it with the second-round finish of Nick Klein in the next outing.

Pulyaev earned his UFC contract by beating Liam Anderson over three rounds on Contender Series, which is important because it showed he could still win cleanly without an early knockout. For a prospect whose record leans toward finishes, that kind of composed decision was the right sort of audition tape for a roster jump.

Key moments

• Pulyaev won a unanimous decision on Contender Series.
• The fight secured his UFC contract on DWCS season 8, episode 3.
• It was one of only two decision wins in his first ten professional victories.
• The performance set up the March 2025 debut against Christian Leroy Duncan.

Pulyaev flattened Welldon Silva de Oliveira in just 1:17 to open 2024 with another fast finish under the Shlemenko banner. That win mattered because it sharpened the case that his regional momentum was not stalling before the Contender Series call.

Key moments

• The knockout came 77 seconds into the opening round.
• Pulyaev won by punches rather than a kick or submission.
• It was his fourth stoppage win in five victories since the 2022 loss to Zhakyp Tuganbaev.
• The result set up the final regional push before his DWCS appearance later that year.

Pulyaev showed he could still find a finish late by tapping Nikita Kondratov with an armbar in round three at RCC Intro 29. For a fighter whose profile leans heavily toward early offense, this was useful evidence that he could stay dangerous well after the first wave passed.

Key moments

• The armbar finish came at 3:49 of round three.
• Pulyaev needed nearly a full 14 minutes before finding the submission.
• It followed the first-round elbow stoppage of Khuseyn Merzoev from July 2023.
• The result kept his rebound from the March 2023 Daniyalbekov loss moving in the right direction.

Pulyaev bounced back from the Daniyalbekov loss by cutting through Khuseyn Merzoev with elbows for a first-round TKO at SFC 8. The win restored his momentum quickly and kept the finish-heavy regional run intact.

Key moments

• The stoppage came at 2:21 of round one.
• Pulyaev finished the fight with elbows rather than straight punches or a kick.
• It was his first appearance after the March 2023 defeat to Anvarbek Daniyalbekov.
• The win started a three-fight streak that carried him to DWCS.

Pulyaev added another early finish in April 2023 by forcing Pavel Mustafin to submit to a triangle choke in the first round. The method mattered because it showed the offense was not just knockout-based even though the record would later tilt that way.

Key moments

• The technical submission came 2:20 into the opening round.
• Pulyaev won with a triangle choke, one of only two submissions on his pre-UFC record.
• The finish followed just six weeks after his first-round TKO of Aslan Asukhanov.
• It briefly pushed his regional surge forward before the setback against Daniyalbekov.

Daniyalbekov stopped Pulyaev with punches late in the first round at Storm on the Neva, handing him a sharp interruption in an otherwise fast-starting 2023 campaign. The defeat mattered because it forced him to prove the previous finishes were not a fragile run against the wrong level.

Key moments

• The TKO came at 4:09 of round one.
• Pulyaev was stopped by strikes rather than submitted or outpointed.
• It was his first loss after consecutive SFC wins over Alexandr Kurshinskiy and Aslan Asukhanov.
• He answered by winning his next three regional bouts, two by finish.

Pulyaev opened 2023 by stopping Aslan Asukhanov with punches before the three-minute mark of round one at SFC 6. It was exactly the kind of clean regional finish that helped establish his reputation as a front-running finisher.

Key moments

• The finish landed at 2:51 of the first round.
• Pulyaev scored back-to-back stoppage wins after the 10-second body-kick knockout in September 2022.
• The victory came less than two months after the decision loss to Zhakyp Tuganbaev.
• It began a busy 2023 stretch that would include five fights before his 2024 DWCS call.

Tuganbaev took Pulyaev the full three rounds and handed him a unanimous-decision loss in December 2022, one of the few early fights on the record that did not end inside the distance. That result mattered because it tested whether Pulyaev could still impose himself once the quick-finish script was denied.

Key moments

• The bout lasted all 15 minutes and went unanimously against Pulyaev.
• It was only the second decision of his career at that point.
• The loss broke up his first two-win burst after turning pro in 2022.
• Pulyaev responded by winning four of his next five, all but one by stoppage.

Pulyaev needed only ten seconds of round two to fold Alexandr Kurshinskiy with a body kick at SFC 5, one of the quickest and cleanest finishes on his record. It was the kind of finish that immediately reinforced his tall-frame striking threat on the Russian regional circuit.

Key moments

• The knockout came just 10 seconds into round two.
• Pulyaev ended the fight with a body kick rather than punches.
• The win followed the 19-second TKO of Stanislav Shaboltas from June 2022.
• It gave him consecutive rapid finishes before the December test against Tuganbaev.

Pulyaev blasted through Stanislav Shaboltas in nineteen seconds at SFC 4, the fastest win on his professional record. The finish immediately shifted his profile from a fighter who could win rounds to one who could erase opponents before the fight had settled.

Key moments

• The stoppage came only 19 seconds into round one.
• Pulyaev finished the fight with punches.
• It was his first professional stoppage after debuting with a decision win over Evgeny Chernyshko.
• The result started the first fast-finishing stretch of his career.

Pulyaev opened his professional career by outpointing Evgeny Chernyshko over three rounds at SFC 3. The debut matters now because the rest of the record became much more finish-heavy, but the starting point was a composed decision rather than instant violence.

Key moments

• Pulyaev won his pro debut by unanimous decision after three rounds.
• The fight showed he could bank a full-distance win before the knockout streak began.
• It put him at 1-0 entering the June 2022 matchup with Stanislav Shaboltas.
• His next six wins after this debut all came inside the distance.