Li Jianggliang packs a powerful punch, and Muslim Salikhov discovered that at UFC Long Island.
In a battle of hard-hitting welterweights, it was Li who connected with a hellacious right hand towards the end of the second round that sent Salikhov crashing to the canvas and brought an end to their fight. The finish came at 4:38 in the second round, with Li getting back on track following a disappointing loss to Khamzat Chimaev in his previous outing.
“It’s my pleasure,” Li said about fighting Salikhov. He is someone I have known since my 2008. training. He was a pleasure to fight. It was unbelievable .”
Instead of trading strikes on the feet Salikhov executed a smooth takedown in round one. He placed Li on the ground and looked to improve his ground game. Salikhov wasn’t afraid to push himself too far, and Li was eventually able to escape to the middle of the cage.
Known for his flashy spin kicks, Salikhov was definitely looking to catch Li off guard but he wasn’t really setting up his strikes, which kept the veteran welterweight out of trouble in most of the exchanges. Despite his dangerous strikes, Salikhov kept Li honest and uncorked his signature kicks from all angles.
Just as Salikhov was settling into a rhythm, Li clobbered him with a huge right hand that put the Russian in serious trouble. Li went on the attack as he backed Salikhov up against the cage to set up his finishing combination.
Li sent a quick left jab, followed by another right-hand behind it. That was the punch that brought down Salikhov. The fight continued for a few more rounds until Salikhov was finally stopped by the referee.
Li, well-known for his finish-finishing ability, moved up to second place on the all time list of knockouts in the Welterweight Division with eight, just behind Matt Brown’s 12 record for his UFC career.
