By:  | August 22, 2021 5:39 pm

Hong Kong’s Sasha Palatnikov has now suffered back-to-back submission losses after being on the receiving end of a rear-naked choke from Ramiz Brahimaj at at UFC Vegas 34 on Saturday night (local time).

Making his sophomore UFC appearance, Brahimaj earned his first win inside the octagon with ferocious intent. Having almost lost an ear in his debut defeat to Max Griffin in November he came roaring out of the blocks here.

The pair exchanged jabs before the American stormed forward to secure the double leg against the side of the cage.

Losing consciousness

Palatnikov found his feet but was soon tossed back down to the canvas. Brahimaj worked his way into half guard before stepping over to find full mount.

The American got off a couple of punches and then transitioned to take his Palatnikov’s back. From there, he wasted little time before locking in the choke.

To his credit, Palatnikov showed tremendous resilience to avoid tapping despite Brahimaj having the submission sunk in deep. The 32-year-old tried to battle his way out, but Brahimaj had applied the body triangle to perfection and there would be no escape as Palatnikov lost consciousness.

Palatnikov earned a fight of the night bonus for beating Louis Cosce at UFC 255 and looked like he was very comfortable competing inside the octagon. But he was submitted by Impa Kasanganay at UFC Vegas 23 and is now coming off back to back submission defeats as his record slips to 6-4.

Meanwile, Brahimaj extends his record to 9-3 and was delighted to finally get his first UFC win.

Speaking to the media after the fight he said,

“Wow, it feels good. It feels long overdue, but it’s one of those things, it brings you down to Earth. I could say, ‘Oh, I want Kamaru Usman next’, but I got a long way to go. Tonight was a start. I’m humbled and honoured to be here, especially after my last fight. It’s been a turbulent two years, especially how I did it in this fight. Words can’t describe it.”

UFC Vegas 34, Las Vegas, August 22nd
Jared Cannonier def. Kelvin Gastelum via Decision (Unanimous)
Mark Madsen def. Clay Guida via Decision (Split)
Parker Porter def. Chase Sherman via Decision (Unanimous)
Saidyokub Kakhramonov def. Trevin Jones via Submission (Guillotine) at 4:39 of R3
Vinc Pichel def. Austin Hubbard via Decision (Unanimous)
Alexandre Pantoja def. Brandon Royval via Submission (Rear naked choke) at 1:46 of R2
Austin Lingo def. Luis Saldana via Decision (Unanimous)
Brian Kelleher def. Domingo Pilarte via Decision (Unanimous)
Josiane Nunes def. Bea Malecki via KO (punch) at 4:54 of R1
William Knight def. Fabio Cherant via KO (Punches) at 3:58 of R1
Ignacio Bahamondes def. Roosevelt Roberts via KO (Spinning wheel kick) at 4:55 of R3
Ramiz Brahimaj def. Sasha Palatnikov via Technical Submission (Rear naked choke) at 2:33 of R1