Daniil Donchenko

Donchenko broke the Baku fight open in round two when a head kick and follow-up punches finished Berggren at 1:35. The stoppage pushed his reconciled pro ledger to 14-2, extended his winning streak, and kept the shape of the profile consistent with what the tape already suggests: a kickboxer who can crack open fights suddenly once he starts landing clean down the middle.

Key moments

• The finish came at 1:35 of round two by head kick and punches.
• Donchenko extended his current winning streak with the Baku stoppage.
• It was his second UFC finish after the first-round stoppage of Rodrigo Sezinando.
• The result maintained a record built mostly on knockouts rather than long scorecards.

Against Alex Morono, Donchenko had to show more patience than violence and did it by winning a full three-round unanimous decision. That performance matters because it proved the Ukrainian could still gather rounds cleanly when the early knockout window never opened.

Key moments

• Donchenko won a unanimous decision after 15 minutes.
• The Morono bout interrupted a run of consecutive stoppage wins on his ledger.
• It was his third decision win in fourteen professional victories.
• The result set up the Baku fight as a chance to turn immediately back to finishing form.

Donchenko stopped Rodrigo Sezinando in the opening round, using the same pressure-heavy striking that has defined most of his winning record. It was a strong statement for a UFC sophomore because it came after the Morono decision and showed he could toggle back from measured pacing to immediate damage.

Key moments

• The stoppage came at 4:27 of round one.
• Donchenko won by TKO punches rather than submission or decision.
• It restored the knockout-heavy profile after the Morono scorecard win.
• The finish set up the follow-up booking with Berggren in Baku.

Donchenko avenged an earlier defeat to Rustem Kudaibergenov by taking a unanimous decision over five rounds in Naiza's main event. That win is important context because it showed he could hold up over championship distance and correct a prior loss instead of remaining only a quick-finish regional puncher.

Key moments

• Donchenko won a five-round unanimous decision in the rematch.
• The result avenged his earlier loss to Kudaibergenov from 2023.
• It gave him a sixth straight win at the time.
• The performance helped bridge his regional title level into UFC opportunity.

The rematch with Kanybek Zhanybek Uulu ended much differently than the first meeting, with Donchenko taking the back late and finishing a rear-naked choke in round four. That matters because it is one of the few non-striking wins on his record and one of the clearest signs that the offensive game has more layers than the kickboxing label alone suggests.

Key moments

• The rear-naked choke finish came at 4:31 of round four.
• Donchenko avenged his 2023 loss to Zhanybek Uulu in the process.
• It was one of only two submission wins on his professional ledger.
• The result pushed the winning streak that later carried him into the UFC.

Donchenko got straight back to violence against Rustam Yusupov, finishing him with ground-and-pound less than three minutes into the fight at Naiza FC 58. The result mattered because it kept the winning streak accelerating between the Kanybek rematch and the later five-round win over Kudaibergenov.

Key moments

• Tapology records the stoppage as ground-and-pound at 2:45 of round one.
• The finish came only two months after the Sang Kwon Han win in Japan.
• It restored Donchenko to immediate first-round finishing form after the elbow stoppage in round two against Han.
• The win pushed his record to 9-2.

Donchenko needed one second of round two to finish Sang Kwon Han with a left elbow at Top Brights 01. The bizarre timing makes the fight memorable, but it still served the same larger purpose as many of his regional wins: another stoppage that kept the momentum rolling after the setback to Kanybek Zhanybek Uulu.

Key moments

• Tapology lists the finish as a left elbow at 0:01 of round two, not a doctor stoppage.
• Han made it to the stool, then the fight ended immediately after the restart.
• The bout was contested at lightweight in Japan rather than Donchenko's later UFC welterweight class.
• It moved Donchenko to 8-2 before the Yusupov finish two months later.

Zhanybek Uulu handed Donchenko a five-round unanimous-decision loss in their first Naiza meeting, exposing the type of long fight that could still drag him away from his preferred striking momentum. The good news for Donchenko's larger arc is that this became a temporary problem rather than a permanent ceiling, because he avenged it the following year.

Key moments

• The fight went the full five rounds and all three judges sided with Zhanybek Uulu.
• It was Donchenko's first loss since the 2021 decision defeat to Jimmy Vienot.
• The bout created one of the clearer revenge stories on his record.
• He answered it with a fourth-round rear-naked choke in the July 2024 rematch.

Donchenko produced one of the bigger regional upsets on his record when he knocked out the previously unbeaten Gabriel Souza in 84 seconds at One Friday Fights 25. That result gave his run a visible jump in credibility because it came on a major platform against an opponent who had entered 6-0.

Key moments

• Tapology shows Souza entered the fight unbeaten at 6-0.
• Donchenko finished him by punches at 1:24 of round one.
• The win came between the Alihuzhaev stoppage and the five-round loss to Zhanybek Uulu.
• It pushed Donchenko to 7-1.

Alihuzhaev made Donchenko work into the second round before the Ukrainian's pressure produced another stoppage at Naiza FC 50. It was the sort of win that kept strengthening the read on him as a young offensive fighter who could keep building damage rather than fading after the first burst.

Key moments

• The stoppage came at 1:40 of round two by punches.
• It followed the back-mount finish of Arkhat Mynbaev from the previous September.
• The win extended Donchenko's streak to five in a row.
• It set up the bigger-stage knockout of Gabriel Souza four months later.

Donchenko broke Mynbaev down from a dominant back-mount position and finished with strikes midway through round two at Naiza FC 44. The method matters because it shows the win came through control and posture as much as pure kickboxing, giving a little more texture to a record often read only through the knockout totals.

Key moments

• Tapology lists the finish specifically as punches from back mount at 2:43 of round two.
• It was Donchenko's first fight after the Shamil Nixacov stoppage.
• The result moved him to 5-1.
• That win helped carry him into the stronger 2023 sequence against Alihuzhaev and Gabriel Souza.

Donchenko pushed Nixacov to the edge of the second-round horn before earning another TKO with punches at RFP 88. The finish showed he did not need everything to happen early, which became a recurring theme as the better regional wins started stacking up.

Key moments

• The stoppage came with just 47 seconds left in round two.
• Tapology records the finish as punches at 4:13 of the second round.
• It was his first fight after the win over Gustavo Wurlitzer.
• The result improved him to 4-1.

Donchenko returned from the Vienot loss by stopping veteran Gustavo Wurlitzer in the second round in Kyiv. Tapology flags broader legitimacy concerns around some Wurlitzer bouts, so the safest read here is narrow: it remains an official record win and part of the rebound that steadied Donchenko's trajectory.

Key moments

• The official result is a second-round TKO by punches at 3:15.
• This was Donchenko's first fight after the unanimous-decision loss to Jimmy Vienot.
• It moved his record to 3-1 on the reconciled ledger.
• The win began the longer streak that carried him through Naiza and eventually into the UFC.

Vienot handed Donchenko the first loss of his career, taking a unanimous decision over three rounds at UAE Warriors 22. The defeat is still useful context because it showed that when the fight became a longer technical scoring match against a seasoned opponent, Donchenko's offense had not yet matured enough to control it.

Key moments

• The fight went the full fifteen minutes and all three judges sided with Vienot.
• It was Donchenko's first professional defeat.
• The loss came only ten weeks after his triangle-choke win over Makhail Kovalenko.
• He answered it by stopping Gustavo Wurlitzer in his very next outing.

Donchenko showed a different side in just his second recorded pro bout, submitting Kovalenko with a first-round triangle choke at TDT 1. That early grappling finish matters because it became one of the only two submission wins on a ledger otherwise dominated by strike stoppages and decision work.

Key moments

• The triangle choke finish came at 3:27 of round one.
• It followed his decision win over Sviatoslav Zhymanov from 2019.
• The result moved him to 2-0 before the step up against Jimmy Vienot.
• It remains one of the clearest reminders that his record is not purely a kickboxing record.

Donchenko's pro debut went to the cards, and he handled the full three-round assignment well enough to take a unanimous decision over Zhymanov. Starting with a decision rather than an instant finish is a useful detail because it undercuts the idea that his game was always just about fast chaos.

Key moments

• This was the first professional fight on Donchenko's record.
• He won all three rounds on the way to a unanimous decision.
• The bout took place in Rivne, Ukraine at RFP 74.
• He followed the debut win with the triangle-choke submission of Kovalenko in 2021.