Bekzat Almakhan

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.

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 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.
• 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.

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 handled the road trip to Moscow well, stopping Musaev late in the first round at MMA Series 43.

Key moments

• The finish came at 4:23 of round one, so Musaev survived most of the round before getting broken down.
• It followed the Bekzhan Utemisov win from four months earlier.
• The result lifted Almakhan to 5-1.

The Bushido tournament card was mixed for Almakhan, and the low point was the second-round guillotine loss to Sultan Zholdoshbek.

Key moments

• 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.