Bekzat Almakhan

Almakhan fought all three rounds with Matsumoto in Baku but could not overturn the Brazilian's control on the cards, taking a unanimous-decision loss that dropped him to 12-4. The defeat mattered because it came after he had already shown genuine UFC-level pop against Brad Katona, but it also highlighted the gap between explosive finishing upside and the ability to consistently win full technical rounds.

Key moments

• Almakhan lost a unanimous decision after 15 minutes.
• The defeat dropped his record to 12-4.
• It was his second straight UFC loss after the Aleksandre Topuria decision.
• The result interrupted the momentum created by the Brad Katona knockout in May 2025.

Aleksandre Topuria outpointed Almakhan over three rounds and handed him a second UFC decision loss, a result that again showed how much his game still depends on hurting opponents before the judges matter. The good side of that loss is that he remained durable and competitive; the bad side is that the scoring pace still drifted away from him when the finish never came.

Key moments

• Topuria won a unanimous decision after three rounds.
• It was Almakhan's second UFC defeat in three appearances.
• The fight came six months after his knockout of Brad Katona.
• He followed it with another decision loss to Matsumoto in Baku.

Almakhan's best UFC moment so far came when he flattened Brad Katona in just over a minute, a reminder that his power is real and dangerous even against disciplined bantamweights. That knockout is still the clearest explanation for why his ceiling remains compelling despite the scorecard losses around it.

Key moments

• The knockout came at 1:04 of round one.
• Almakhan stopped a durable veteran in Brad Katona with punches.
• It gave him his first UFC win after the Nurmagomedov debut loss.
• The performance reestablished the knockout-heavy identity on his record before the later Topuria and Matsumoto defeats.

Umar Nurmagomedov outclassed Almakhan on the scorecards in Almakhan's UFC debut, forcing the newcomer to defend more than dictate exchanges. The loss was unsurprising given the level jump, but it also became a useful measuring point because Almakhan later showed against Katona that the debut did not overstate his ceiling.

Key moments

• Nurmagomedov won a unanimous decision after 15 minutes.
• It was Almakhan's UFC debut.
• The defeat came after a long run of regional knockout-heavy success.
• He answered it the next year by knocking out Brad Katona in the first round.

Yan Ferraz lasted almost the full fifteen minutes before Almakhan finally got him out of there in the third round, which matters because it showed the Kazakhstani could carry his pressure past the early knockout window. That sort of late finish was an important bridge between his regional record and the UFC opportunity that arrived a few months later.

Key moments

• The stoppage came at 4:58 of round three.
• Almakhan won by TKO punches after nearly a full fifteen minutes.
• The fight came eight months after the second-round head-kick knockout of Mateus Gloria.
• It served as the final regional win before the Umar Nurmagomedov booking.

Almakhan needed only seven seconds of the second round to blow through Mateus Gloria in the first main event of his career at Octagon 47. The finish was exactly the kind of violent, kick-started stoppage that explains why his knockout percentage stayed so high even before he reached the UFC.

Key moments

• Tapology records the finish at 0:07 of round two, so the break barely gave Gloria a reset.
• The stoppage came from a head kick followed by punches rather than a drawn-out attritional finish.
• It was billed as the main event of Octagon 47 in Almaty.
• The win moved Almakhan to 10-1 before his short-notice UFC call.

Almakhan banked one of the few full-distance wins on his record when he outpointed Mauro Mastromarini over three rounds at UAE Warriors 36. That decision matters because it gave him evidence that he could control a fight away from home even when the knockout never materialized.

Key moments

• This is one of only two decision wins on his record.
• The fight went the full fifteen minutes on the UAE Warriors stage.
• It came between the late corner stoppage of Jenilton Matos and the seven-second round-two finish of Mateus Gloria.
• The result pushed him to 9-1.

Almakhan wore Matos down for a full two rounds and forced a corner stoppage at the end of the second, giving him a different sort of finish from his usual one-shot knockouts. The timing shows he could build damage and pressure over ten minutes, not just chase a sudden early blow.

Key moments

• The official finish came at 5:00 of round two, so Matos was stopped between rounds rather than inside open action.
• It was a corner stoppage, which points to accumulated damage and momentum.
• The win kept Almakhan on the regional climb before his UAE Warriors appearance.
• It moved his record to 8-1.

Vargas made Almakhan work well into the third round before a head kick ended the fight at 3:07, showing there was still late danger in his offense even after extended rounds. That finish helped keep the regional surge moving and added another stoppage by a different weapon to his record.

Key moments

• The knockout came in round three rather than during an early blitz.
• Tapology and the related coverage tie the stoppage to a head kick.
• It was another finish that proved Almakhan could carry his power deep into a fight.
• The win pushed him to 7-1.

Almakhan closed the first round hard enough to stop Sabuhi Guliyev with punches at 4:35, another result that reinforced how dangerous he remained right up to the horn. It was an important bounce-forward performance after the Bushido tournament split his three-fight night between wins and a loss.

Key moments

• The stoppage came with 25 seconds left in round one.
• Tapology lists the finish as punches rather than a kick or submission.
• It put Almakhan back on the front foot in 2022 after the 2021 kimura win over Utemisov.
• The result moved his record to 6-1.

Almakhan handled the road trip to Moscow well, stopping Musaev late in the first round at MMA Series 43. The finish kept the momentum rolling after his first career submission win and gave him another stoppage outside Kazakhstan before the Octagon run accelerated.

Key moments

• The finish came at 4:23 of round one, so Musaev survived most of the round before getting broken down.
• Tapology's quick results confirm a first-round KO/TKO.
• It followed the Bekzhan Utemisov win from four months earlier.
• The result lifted Almakhan to 5-1.

Almakhan scored the first submission win of his career by catching Utemisov in a third-round kimura at Octagon 20. That was a useful marker in his development because it proved his record was not purely knockout-driven even though the striking finishes dominate the totals.

Key moments

• The submission came at 1:17 of round three after a long fight.
• It was his first professional win by submission.
• The bout was a main-card matchup at Octagon 20 in Almaty.
• The result moved him to 4-1.

The Bushido tournament card was mixed for Almakhan, and the low point was the second-round guillotine loss to Sultan Zholdoshbek. It remains a meaningful line on the record because it was his only defeat between the 2018 debut and the 2024 UFC debut against Umar Nurmagomedov.

Key moments

• Tapology records the finish at 0:44 of round two.
• The loss came on the same event date as his wins over Talgat Khalmuratov and Aydin Kodekov.
• It briefly stalled his regional surge after three straight victories.
• He answered it by winning his next seven fights.

Almakhan collected a second win on the Bushido tournament card when Kodekov could not continue 3:33 into round two. It was not his cleanest-looking finish on paper, but it still counted as part of the same busy single-night workload that pushed him deeper into the bracket.

Key moments

• Tapology records this stoppage as an injury result at 3:33 of round two.
• It was Almakhan's second fight of the day on the Bushido grand prix card.
• The bout showed he could turn around and win again inside the same tournament setup.
• It improved his record to 2-0 before the later loss to Sultan Zholdoshbek that night.

Almakhan opened his three-fight Bushido tournament slate by stopping Khalmuratov in the third round, a useful early sign that he could keep pressure and finishing intent alive late. Starting the day with a win mattered because the card demanded repeat performances rather than a one-and-done outing.

Key moments

• The fight went to 3:03 of round three before the referee waved it off.
• Tapology lists the result as referee stoppage rather than a decision.
• It was the first of three Almakhan appearances on the 25 October 2020 grand prix card.
• The victory pushed his record to 1-0 on the night and 1-0 overall after the long layoff from 2018.

Almakhan's pro debut was a successful one, forcing a corner stoppage against Ser-od Bilguun midway through the second round at Alash Pride. The fight is the starting point for the entire profile because it launched the knockout-heavy trend that still defines his record years later.

Key moments

• The finish came at 3:11 of round two by corner stoppage.
• It was the first professional fight on Almakhan's record.
• The win came in Kazakhstan before his later regional run through Octagon and UAE Warriors.
• He followed it with the chaotic three-fight Bushido tournament two years later.