All was calm and quiet at the UFC Apex until Diyar Nurgozhay pulled a massive head kick out of his bag of tricks.
In the featured light heavyweight bout Tuesday at Dana White’s Contender Series 74, Kazakhstan’s Nurgozhay (10-0) knocked out Poland’s Bartosz Szewczyk (8-3-1) with a beautiful high kick at 3:32 of Round 2.
The fight was pretty calm without much, if any, significant offense. The repetitive, uneventful rhythm quickly blew to smithereens as Nurgozhay landed the big knockout blow midway through Round 2.
BRUTAL HEAD KICK KO BY DIYAR NURGOZHAY 😳 #DWCS pic.twitter.com/HM2xHGHZ4p
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) October 2, 2024
Nurgozhay, 27, maintains a perfect undefeated professional record. He’s a former Eagle FC light heavyweight champion and has eight stoppages in 10 wins.
Szewczyk, 27, had a three-fight winning streak snapped, in defeat.
The up-to-the-minute DWCS 74 results include:
- Diyar Nurgozhay def. Bartosz Szewczyk via knockout (head kick) – Round 2, 3:32
- Alberto Montes def. Carlos Calderon via submission (anaconda choke) – Round 2, 2:38
- David Martinez def. Xavier Franklin via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Torrez Finney def. Abdellah Er-Ramy via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 4:10
- Jacobe Smith def. Christien Savoie via TKO (strikes) – Round 2, 2:55
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for DWCS 74.