Tahir Abdullayev picked up a win in his UFC debut on Saturday at the National Gymnastics Arena in front of the home crowd.
The Azerbaijani fighter faced Jefferson Nascimento in a welterweight prelim bout. Abdullayev improved to 20-3 with a third round stoppage victory. He finished the Brazilian at 4:28 of round three by TKO due to strikes.
The fight stayed low on action through the first two rounds. Abdullayev then landed a strong rally in the third. Official stats showed he connected on 60 total strikes in the fight.
Abdullayev, fighting on home soil in Baku, earned the victory in the opening fight of the card. The win gives the local fighter a positive start to his UFC career on a night with several Azerbaijani athletes competing.