Axel Sola vs Soslan Gagloev
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00:00If I say stop, please stop.
00:02If you want to touch, do it.
00:30Stop! Stop! Stop!
01:00Stop!
01:02Stop!
01:04Stop!
01:06Stop!
01:08Stop!
01:10Stop!
01:12Stop!
01:14Stop!
01:16Stop!
01:18Stop!
01:20Stop!
01:22Stop!
01:24Stop!
01:26Stop!
01:28Alright, hands steady.
01:30Hands steady and go back.
01:32Go in steps, go in steps.
01:34Go in steps.
01:36Tencer, step aside!
01:38Step aside!
01:39Step aside!
01:43Good!
01:48Good!
01:49Little more pressure!
01:52That's it!
01:54That's very good!
01:55And ...
01:56And ...
01:57Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come
02:27Gaglov there just inviting Axel Sola to come forwards. Sola not the kind of person to get dragged into those sort of antics and that's a lovely left by Sola.
02:40Sola caught that one. Gaglov there feels it. First time these two go to the clinch.
03:03Sola's got exceptional wrestling in the clinch. You have to work tripping mechanism to achieve the takedowns off the cage.
03:17Axel likes to throw that jab from his hip, but you know, it does invite that backhand, but it also, it's hard to time it and hard to counter it because you can't really see it, it's low.
03:34Lovely duck under there for the single leg. He's on the single, he's going to come to the body lock. Gaglov doing a great job there defending that.
03:56You might have just locked hands here, Axel. I can't see from where I am.
04:02Yeah, I think he has. Oh, lovely reversal that was.
04:09Both up to their feet quickly though.
04:11You see some red on the back of the hamstring of the right arm, the right leg of Gaglov and he was starting to bite on that. He was lifting that lead leg to try and check it.
04:32Sola can start to try and revisit that technique.
04:36Little cut beneath Gaglov's right eye as well.
04:42This is all from the jab from Sola, you know, basic technique throwing the jab, but he's busting his man up with the jab.
04:54Did well to avoid that right hook because it came quickly. Gaglov has got a very quick release.
05:02Set a really good pace for a five round fight, this is a really good pace.
05:14Head kick into a spinning back fist from Gaglov, beautiful.
05:19What a first round, what a first round.
05:22I'd like to pick up on something you just said Jai, Sola doing the simple things right, but that's what he's about, you know, he doesn't make a lot of noise.
05:30He's not the fighter who's going to, you know, get into any kind of way in antics, that sort of stuff. He just does it, does his trade, sticks to it.
05:38Yeah, working his bread and butter, you know, working the jab, working, you know, he scored a bit and look, he's damaged his face only round one.
05:45Now he's going to stick on that and eventually into the fight, he'll start bringing a backhand, you know, something behind it, a backhand, a head kick, a low kick.
05:53Dean Middard, your thoughts on this opening fight?
05:57Impressive again, Sola's always impressive. He's mastered the distance and I think keeping the hands low is allowing him to be more kind of fluid.
06:07Loose, yeah.
06:09Real loose and that's what's letting that jab come on, because he knows the distance, so when the counter comes, he just skips the head back.
06:16I think that's allowing him to be loose, but hands low and a square stance opens up the leg kick.
06:21But I mean, Gangnam had success when he was touching with that right hand.
06:25Yeah, like you say, there's openings, there's gaps, he's leaving Sola, but you've got to get the balance.
06:30He's staying loose by the way he fights, but he's also giving gaps, but you know, at the minute he's doing really well and pushing away.
06:35Sola landing over 50% of what he threw in that opening round.
06:46Accidental low blow there. Sola seems good.
06:51Great feet there.
06:57Oh, lovely.
06:59Ducked under the hook there and turned the corner.
07:05Let's see Sola get his feet on the hips there, push himself back to the cage.
07:15He's on the leg, he's just going to use that to stand up.
07:21It's up now, Sola.
07:23And they break away.
07:26The crowd enjoyed that.
07:27The crowd enjoyed that.
07:31That's the thing, when you attack the leg locks, your opponent has to defend it.
07:39He has to respect it and then you can use that to get to your feet.
07:43Low blow there by Axel Sola.
07:46Look at the bruising behind Gagloweff's right thigh there.
07:50Take a look at the replay.
07:52Definitely on the cup.
07:55Painful one.
07:57When you speak to Axel Sola, it's not at all in his character for him to deliberately do that.
08:21He doesn't look like he's breathing heavy at all, Axel Sola.
08:27Sola acknowledged straight away that that was a low blow with showing his palm to Gagloweff.
08:37An apology.
08:39Giving Sola a warning that that was a really hard shot.
08:47Nice one too there by Sola.
08:52Beautiful angle there to miss that head kick.
08:55He ate a short shot there.
08:58Looking for the knee and separation as a shot.
09:01He's in on the neck.
09:03He's looking for the chop.
09:05Lovely, lovely defensive work by Gagloweff for now.
09:14Head kick and the break.
09:16Whenever Sola gets a little bit adventurous though, you feel that Gagloweff can thrive in chaos, can't he?
09:22Sticks to that jab.
09:26High kick jab by Sola.
09:31Sola a bit more free with the kicks here now.
09:34This is when Gagloweff has to threaten the takedown.
09:40Just saw the...
09:42Just saw the head snap back there.
09:45Sola jabbed at him.
09:48He targets that leg once more, Axel Sola.
09:52Those are heavy, dangerous strikes by the Frenchman.
10:02That's that right hand again that Gagloweff had success with.
10:05Get the punches weighing a little bit.
10:07Oh, the heavy left body shot there.
10:08And again by Sola.
10:10Sola doesn't want to get drawn into this.
10:12That's what Gagloweff wants.
10:14He wants him to get drawn into that mid-range.
10:17That's where he leaves Gagloweff.
10:19That's where he leaves him, in that pocket there.
10:25It's a great fight.
10:27Yeah, brilliant.
10:29Nice by Gagloweff.
10:31He's breathing heavily though, the Russian.
10:33Again, that jab causing problems.
10:35Hands seem to be dropping.
10:36Lower and lower here, Dean, from Gagloweff.
10:38Yeah, starting to feel the burn, I think here.
10:40Starting to get that damage to the face as well.
10:42Another jab from Sola.
10:45He's having to really exert himself to close the distance.
10:50Oh, and a clean combination from Sola.
10:53Oh, lovely head evasive action as well.
10:56As he just ducks under the hook twice, Sola.
10:58The shove away.
11:00And once again, the jab.
11:02It's so tidy.
11:04It's perfect at the moment.
11:06Again.
11:09Just over a minute left in round two.
11:15He's caught there, Sola, though.
11:17Good by Gagloweff.
11:19Just keep Sola guessing.
11:21Again, the jab.
11:23And again.
11:25And now he comes forward, Sola.
11:27And pounds away.
11:29Gagloweff covers up.
11:31Knee to the body, twice by Sola.
11:33The defending champ smells a win now.
11:35Gagloweff's got to reach for that leg, though,
11:37if those knees come up in the clinch.
11:39Shoots in, in on the single.
11:41Got to clasp the hands together.
11:43Nice heavy spool from Sola, though.
11:45Sola's got to fire that knee up the center.
11:47Oh, lovely short elbow.
11:51What's the Russian got in his tank here?
11:54His face has been battered by Sola.
11:57Body, face, Sola.
12:00Can he get the finish in round two?
12:02Gagloweff covers.
12:05Sola pounds.
12:09Oh, this could be the end here, Simon.
12:12Five, four, three, two.
12:14It's over!
12:16Beautiful.
12:18With the second remaining in the second round,
12:21Axel Sola comes up with a massive performance
12:26to keep his lightweight belt.
12:29It is a hat-trick of victories
12:31for the defending champions tonight at RS25.
12:35We knew this was going to be a tough test for Sola.
12:39He's the star of the show.
12:41But in these tests,
12:43brings out the best version of Axel Sola.
12:45And we saw that tonight in this monumental battle.
12:49And as we touched on earlier,
12:51it was all down to that jab.
12:53Busted him up with a jab from round one
12:55all the way to, you know,
12:57to the end he was landing that jab
12:59and then he started stepping on it,
13:01went to the body, went to the head.
13:03Hurt his man.
13:05Fair play to Gagloweff, he stayed in there
13:07right to the end, he was trying his hardest.
13:10What a fight.
13:14The difference between this Axel Sola
13:17and the one we saw in his last five is immense.
13:21And these are the performances
13:23that are going to trickle up to the big show, the UFC.
13:27This is the avenue on UFC Fight Pass
13:29to showcase your ability to perform
13:32at the highest level
13:34and then look for the finish and get it.
13:38Just the desire, Jai, as well
13:41to not let it go to a third,
13:43not allow Gagloweff any respite
13:46to push to that final second.
13:48Yeah, he was 10 seconds left
13:50and he was thinking, I ain't going to defend,
13:52I'm stopping it right now.
13:54No, it was in his face from the bell.
13:56Brilliant.
14:00We will be hearing from our reigning champ
14:03who extends with another belt,
14:06another win.
14:30We know you're in there.
14:57Ladies and gentlemen,
14:59we call the stoppage to your main event
15:01with one second left off the second round.
15:04Your winner by TKO
15:06and still
15:08at it,
15:10lightweight champion of the world,
15:13Axel Sola!