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Featherweight contenders Zabit Magomedsharipov and Calvin Kattar delivered as expected in their UFC Moscow main event at CSKA Arena, but it was Magomedsharipov who left with the victory, holding off a late charge from Kattar to win a three-round unanimous decision.
Scores were 29-28 across the board for the No. 5-ranked Magomedsharipov, who improves to 18-1. The No. 11-ranked Kattar falls to 20-4.
Magomedsharipov fought brilliantly in the opening five minutes, switching up his striking attacks with relative ease as he kept Kattar at the end of his strikes. When the distance closed, the New Englander was able to get his shots off effectively, but there weren’t enough of those sequences for Kattar.
The high-level action continued in the second round, with the crowd going wild for every offensive move from Magomedsharipov, and there were plenty of them. And though Kattar had his moments, like the first round, there weren’t enough for him to turn the momentum.
The Methuen battler aimed to change that in the final frame, and he began landing more shots, putting Magomedsharipov on the defensive. In the final minute, the Dagestan product scored a takedown to stop his foe’s charge, but Kattar kept throwing from his back, wrapping up a solid round.
Once a co-main event, Magomedsharipov-Kattar was moved up to the headlining spot and kept at three rounds after Junior Dos Santos was forced out of the original UFC Moscow main event against Alexander Volkov.