With a 19-1 professional record, including nine straight wins in the UFC’s shark tank light heavyweight division, Magomed Ankalaev has long been heralded as a future champ at 205 — and a win next month against Jan Blachowicz will go a long way to ensuring he gets a shot at UFC gold sooner or later.

The Russian fighter has been nearly faultless in the UFC to date, losing just once in his career in the final second (!) of a bout he was dominating in London against Paul Craig in what was his UFC debut back in March 2018. Since then, Anaklaev has knocked off three former title challenger at 205 in succession in Anthony Smith, Thiago Santos and Volkan Oezdemir — but it was arguably his second fight with teak-tough Moldovan Ion Cutelaba which made UFC fans sit up and take notice.

The fight, which was a rematch of a controversial finish between the two around eight months prior, saw Ankalaev dominate Cutelaba on the feet before landing the fight-ending blow towards the end of the first round — and a similar outcome against another former champion in Blachowicz at next month’s UFC 282 should stand him on the verge of a title shot.

Until then, though, check out Ankalaev’s destruction of Cutelaba below:

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