Your typical Patrick Cummins fight unfolds something like this: “Durkin” draws his opponent into a clinch battle, and then both fighters deliver ungodly amounts of punishment to one another, before it goes down to a tight judges’ decision.
Misha Cirkunov was having none of that on Saturday night at UFC Moncton, however.
The Toronto resident excited the crowd at Avenir Centre in New Brunswick by making short work of one of the light heavyweight division’s toughest customers, as he needed just 2:40 to win the bout via arm-triangle choke.
“He’s a true warrior,” Cirkunov said after his eight career submission win. “I watched so many of his fights, he’s a durable fighter. I wasn’t expecting to be on top of him in the first round.”
Cummins, the former Penn State wrestler, did indeed go for a takedown, but Cirkunov stayed patient, and the scramble ended with Cirkunov in top position. It didn’t take long from there for Cirkunov to expertly work his way into position for a picture-perfect triangle. While Cummins fought it as long as he could, he eventually had no choice but to tap.
“I knew he was going to try to take me down,” Cirkunov said. “I thought we were going to brawl a little bit, I was ready for a little bit of blood.”
Cirkunov improved to 14-4 and snapped a two-fight losing streak. Cummins is now 10-6 after his second consecutive loss.
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