It appears that Khabib Nurmagomedov is for real. The Russian fighter picked up his third straight win in the UFC with a first-round knockout of Thiago Tavares in the first UFC on FX 7 main card fight. He also improved his record to 19-0 in the process.
After a tepid start, Nurmagomedov connected with a lead left uppercut that dropped Tavares to the mat. It wasn't the prettiest punch, but it got the job done. Nurmagomedov jumped on Tavares and landed a barrage of short elbows that eventually brought a close to the fight. The finish came at 1:55 of round one.
The stoppage wasn't great. Tavares already looked to be done after a couple of the elbows, but Dan Mirgliotta allowed Nurmagomedov to drop at least 15 more before he actually stopped it. UFC president Dana White was pretty hot at the late stop: