A fateful red card has ended Saygid “Dagi” Guseyn Arslanaliev’s impressive win streak.
On Saturday Night, 14 January, the Turkish lightweight was disqualified from his lightweight bout against Bulgaria’s Georgi “Stanchev” Stoyanov at ONE: QUEST FOR POWER after throwing an illegal kick to his downed opponent in the first round.
From the opening bell, Arslanaliev controlled the fight. After a brief exchange of kicks, the Corvos MMA wunderkind rocked Stoyanov and immediately took him down to the ground.
Stoyanov, the grandson of Bulgaria’s first Olympic gold medalist, Nikola Stanchev, fell back on his grappling expertise and grabbed his opponent’s leg. Dagi stayed active, however, transitioning from position to position at lightning speed, and threw hard punches whenever he was given an open shot to the head or the body.
The end came nearly a minute and a half into the contest. Arslanaliev escaped Stoyanov’s grasp by stepping over him. Then, the undefeated prospect ran at the downed Bulgarian and launched a powerful kick, which connected with his opponent’s arm and head and appeared to have knocked him out.
According to ONE Championship’s rules, kicks to the head of a down opponent is illegal. Referee Olivier Coste immediately called an injury timeout and gave the Bulgarian five minutes to recover. But when it was clear he could not continue, Coste drew the red card and disqualified Arslanaliev from the match.
The loss is the first of Dagi’s career, dropping his record to 4-1. Stoyanov wins his promotional debut, though clearly not in the way he had imagined it, and moves his record to 20-11.
