LAS VEGAS – Azat Maksum beat Tyson Nam with a split decision Saturday on the preliminary card at UFC on ESPN 49 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Take a look inside the fight with Maksum, who stayed unbeaten and won his highly anticipated UFC debut.
Azat Maksum vs. Tyson Nam
Result: Azat Maksum def. Tyson Nam via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Updated records: Maksum (17-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC), Nam (21-14-1 MMA, 3-5 UFC)
Key stats: Nam won the striking battle 98-46 and stuffed nine of 11 takedowns.
Maksum on the fight's key moment
“He’s a very experienced fighter. We were expecting a three-round war. This is exactly what happened. This is what I prepared for. He’s a great fighter. He was in the top 15, not so long ago. So we expected that this fight will go exactly three rounds, and that’s what happened. I know that he’s got a favorite overhand right that he throws all the time, so I was always watching out for that. But the thing that surprised me were instead of the overhands, he threw a lot of low kicks.”
Maksum on people in Kazakhstan getting up to watch him fight
“In Kazakhstan, the whole country used to get up and watch Triple G’s fights – Gennady Golovkin. And now I’m sure that they’re going to get up and they’re going to watch my fight. But specifically today, it wasn’t the whole country, but maybe a lot of people definitely got up and they saw me.”
Maksum on what he wants next
“I definitely want to get back here as soon as possible. I came here to fight. I’m young. I’m hungry. I want to be here. So as soon as the promotion is able to get me back into the octagon, I would love to come back. I want them to know that I’m very eager to be back as soon as possible. When it comes to an opponent, I know Joshua Van was just recently fighting Zhalgas Zhumagulov, who’s my countryman, and he lost to him, so I’d love to avenge that loss. I think that would be a good next fight.”
To hear more from Maksum, check out the video of the full post-fight interview above.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 49.
