From the opening moments of the fight, the Palestinian Ramsey Nijem had a distinct look in his eyes that could mean but two things: First, he was blood-thirsty, second, he was in a hurry. Unfortunately for Beneil Dariush, both were true.
A well-timed left hook only 40 seconds before the end of first round put Dariush out of his misery and Nijem into the winner’s circle. This lightweight bout kicked off tonight’s UFC Fight Night 39 main card, which was streamed on UFC Fight Pass from Du Arena in Abu Dhabi.
Dariush began the fight in well composed and relaxed manner, constantly fending off Nijem’s relentless aggression, for about 4 minutes. A left hand to Dariush’s crown left him wobbly, this was ultimately the beginning of the end since Nijem found a new home for his left hand, unfortunately for Dariush, that new home was his face.
After a valient but failed attempt at a flying knee, Nijem connected once more and dropped Dariush momentarily, but the sweet stench of blood was already in the air and Nijem was on the prowl. After a well-placed combo, Nijem followed up with a barrage of shots which left veteran referee Neil Hall no choice to call the fight.
The last scene of the fight was a bloodied and damaged Dariush on one end of the octagon, and a happy and celebratory Nijem on the other side. After breaking Dariush’s unbeaten record and his face, Nijem declared war on the rest on the 155-pound division in the UFC , telling fellow commentator Matt Hardy that he had planned to make it “violent” and serve it as a warning to the rest of the class.
Subsequently to this bout, Nijem stands at 9-4 (MMA) and 5-3 (UFC), notably unbeaten in his last two UFC bouts, while Dariush, to whom we wish a speedy recovery, stands at 7-1 (MMA) and 1-1 (UFC).
Ramsey Nijem to ArabsMMA:
“The first time the UFC came to Abu Dhabi, I watched as I was fighting on regional promotions and I knew I would be on a card there if they ever came back. I have great fans and I dedicate this win to those fans in the Middle East. They were so supportive that I knew I would have them in my corner. I worked hard this camp and its been great ever since I moved over to Tarek’s gym in San Francisco. I was struggling last year and now I really do feel like a new fighter.”
Real time UFC Fight Night 39 results also include:
MAIN CARD
Roy Nelson def. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, knockout (punch) – Round 1, 3:37
Clay Guida def. Tatsuya Kawajiri, unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) – Round 3, 5:00
Ryan LaFlare def. John Howard, unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) – Round 3, 5:00
Ramsey Nijem def. Beneil Dariush, TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 4:20
PRELIMINARY CARD
Jared Rosholt def. Daniel Omielanczuk, unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) – Round 3, 5:00
Thales Leites def. Trevor Smith, TKO (punches) – Round 1, 0:45
Jim Alers def. Alan Omer, split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28) – Round 3, 5:00
Johnny Bedford vs. Rani Yahya, declared no-contest (accidental head-butt) – Round 1, 0:39
