Marat Gafurov returns with dominant performance against Emilio Urrutia

Former ONE Featherweight World Champion Marat “Cobra” Gafurov is back, and he is heading straight for the world title he recently lost.

The Dagestani was looking to rebound from his first career defeat at the hands of Martin “The Situ-Asian” Nguyen last August, and was looking to do so against surging contender Emilio “The Honey Badger” Urrutia.

Evidently, Gafurov succeeded in his mission.

On Friday, 20 April, he choked Urrutia out in the first round of their featherweight tilt at ONE: HEROES OF HONOR in Manila, Philippines.

Urrutia was full of energy as the opening bell sounded. He had a spring in his step, and everything to gain. The Thai-based American landed first with a hard low kick to his opponent’s lead leg. However, Gafurov would not let the second one go unpunished, and he timed a perfect takedown when “The Honey Badger” threw another kick.

From there, it was clear domination from “Cobra.”

Gafurov chipped away with short punches until he found an opening. The Dagestani buried his head deep into the armpit of Urrutia, and set up an arm-triangle choke. He sealed the deal by clearing the legs, and applying pressure from side control.

“The Honey Badger” would not tap, however, and instead was rendered unconscious from the squeeze at the 2:34 mark of the first round.

It was a quick and impressive win for Gafurov, who moves his record to 16-1. He now eyes a bout with the winner of the upcoming featherweight world title match at ONE: UNSTOPPABLE DREAMS between Nguyen and Christian Lee in May.