UFC on Fox 19 in Tampa, Florida, featured the return of "The Eagle" Khabib Nurmagomedov on Saturday.
This was originally supposed to be a main event title eliminator between Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson, but an injury to Ferguson threw those plans out of the window. Instead, Darrell Horcher signed a UFC contract to take the fight on short notice.
It was a tall order in Horcher's Octagon debut. Nurmagomedov did what was expected and ran through Horcher like a hot knife through butter.
It took a couple of minutes into the first round, but soon Nurmagomedov put Horcher on the mat with a thud. A big slam got the fight right where he wanted it. Horcher couldn't do anything off his back to threaten the Dagestani, and Nurmagomedov easily took the first round.
The second round wasn't much different.
Nurmagomedov took Horcher down and put him on the receiving end of a beating. Eventually, the referee had seen enough and pulled Nurmagomedov off.
Horcher will earn himself another go-around in the UFC, and he'll get a much fairer matchup than the undefeated title contender next time. This was not a fair fight on paper, and it was much too soon in his career to face The Eagle.
It was a complete mismatch.
If nothing else, Horcher got on national television against one of the best in the world. He could have done worse for his branding.
As for Nurmagomedov, this was perhaps the best-case scenario. He had not fought in the UFC in almost two years. This fight reintroduced him to the UFC fans who may have forgotten him, and it helped knock off some of the cage rust.
The difficulty for the UFC will come in deciding what is next for Nurmagomedov. He is undefeated, holds a win over the lightweight champion Rafael Dos Anjos and is the No. 2-ranked contender in the official UFC rankings. A title shot is not out of the question.
The issue with a title shot for Nurmagomedov is that in his absence, others have made their case against elite competition.
The UFC is justified no matter which way it goes in booking Nurmagomedov's next fight. For fans, it's just nice to have a healthy Eagle back in the company. Tampa welcomed him back with open arms, and Horcher provided the tuneup he needed for an emphatic return.
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