VIDEO | Nikita Krylov destroys Fabio Maldonado to claim FNG’s light heavyweight title

Former UFC fighters Nikita Krylov and Fabio Maldonado squared off for the Fight Nights Global light heavyweight title earlier today in Russia.

Maldonado entered the bout as champion, this following his submission victory over Kurban Omarov this past September.

As for Nikita Krylov (24-5 MMA), the Ukrainian standout entered today’s title fight on the heels of a brutal first-round knockout victory over former Bellator champion Emanuel Newton which he earned in October.

The fight started and almost ended just seconds later, this after Krylov connected with an accidental kick to the groin of Maldonado. Fabio would stay down for a couple of minutes but was eventually able to recover and continue with the fight. Krylov would showcase some solid striking before eventually putting Maldonado on his back where he unleashed some brutal ground and pound from the full mount position. Despite Krylov’s efforts to end the fight in the very first-round, the always tough Maldonado managed to survive and force round two.

Fabio would find his range in round two and had some decent success before eventually getting rocked by a Krylov head kick. After successfully stuffing multiple takedowns attempts from Nikita, Maldonado would get caught by a massive right hand from Krylov which sent Fabio crashing to the canvas.

Check out the nasty finish below:

https://twitter.com/Jolassanda/status/997937147545051142

Nikita Krylov has now gone a perfect 4-0 since parting ways with the UFC in January of 2017, capturing the FNG light heavyweight title in the process.

According to MMA reporters Chamatkar Sandhu and Jed Goodman, Krylov earned a $100,000 for his efforts tonight in Russia, which is over double what he was being paid while fighting under the UFC banner.

Just spoke to Fight Night Global officials who tell me Nikita Krylov's purse tonight was $100,000. Not bad at all.

— Chamatkar Sandhu (@SandhuMMA) May 19, 2018

Nikita Krylov's last disclosed purse in the #UFC was 48k (24k show/24k win). https://t.co/MffQq7TKLz

— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) May 19, 2018