UFC 296 video: Tagir Ulanbekov taps Cody Durden with relentless submission attack

LAS VEGAS – Tagir Ulanbekov tried, tried, and tried again – until he finally tapped out Cody Durden.

At UFC 296, Ulanbekov (14-2 MMA, 3-1 UFC) put forth a relentless performance against Durden (16-4-1 MMA, 5-2-1 UFC), who he submitted with a rear-naked choke at 4:25 of Round 2. The flyweight bout took place at T-Mobile Arena as part of the event’s prelims.

The bout was full of scrambles, submission attempts, and near-sunk-in chokes. While Durden shut down many of Ulanbekov’s attempts, he didn’t shut down them all – and that’s what mattered.

After a lengthy along-the-fence battle with Ulanbekov on his back, Durden was dragged to the canvas during a rear-naked choke attempt. The tap came seconds later.

DOMINANT from start to finish

Tagir Ulanbekov gets the tap in R2 over Cody Durden! #UFC296 pic.twitter.com/TgHXVJCLsj

— UFC (@ufc) December 17, 2023

With the win, Ulanbekov, an Islam Makhachev training partner, has now won back-to-back fights. His only career loss was a unanimous decision dropped to Tim Elliott in March 2022.

With the loss, Durden has a four-fight winning streak snapped. The stretch of success turned his career around after a 1-2-1 start to his promotional tenure.

Up-to-the-minute UFC 296 results include:

• Tagir Ulanbekov def. Cody Durden via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 4:25
• Andre Fili def. Lucas Almeida via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 3:32
• Shamil Gaziev def. Martin Buday via TKO (punches) – Round 2, 0:56

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 296.