Artem Lobov won the bout and the war in the SSE Arena on Saturday night.
The SBG fighter is riding a two-fight win-streak for the first time since 2013 after comprehensively beating Teruto Ishihara in the UFC Belfast main card opener.
Apart from a brief scare in the third round that when he got dropped to the canvas by a sharp left hand, Lobov completely dominated the Japanese up-and-comer in every aspect of the fight from the stand-up exchanges to the grappling battles on the ground.
The Russian Hammer outstruck his opponent by 82 significant strikes to 48 throughout the course of the fight to walk away with the unanimous decision victory (30-27, 30-27, 29-28),
One move Lobov had success with against Yashabo was his leg kicks. He tore up his opponent’s lead leg with vicious kicks, causing him to stumble a couple of times.
When Ishihara walked back to his corner at the end of the first round, his right knee was visibly red from the punishment it took in the opening five minutes. The bruising only got worse as the fight progressed as Lobov continued to target the sweet spot.
A couple of days after the event, Ishihara shared an image which showed the extent of the damage his knees took in the Octagon courtesy of Lobov. He tagged Lobov in the caption to congratulate him on a job well done.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BND4A4hjXpw/?taken-by=teru145&hl=en
