Saturday, May 12, 2012

Dent Drops a UD in PA Show


After winning in Iowa on 4/7, Jason Dent was looking forward to a fast turn around with a 4/20 debut fight in Bellator. When his opponent withdrew within days of the event, there was no time to locate a replacement and the fight was scratched from the card.  In keeping with his resolve to keep busy in 2012, Jason quickly located an alternative.

Pure MMA, a fledgling promotion in Eastern, PA, had a show coming up in 10 days.  His opponent would be Rustam Khabilov, a complete unknown here. Some research showed Khabilov had more than just a 12-1 record, he was also the 2009 M-1 Challenge World Lightweight champ, and the World (and Russian National) Combat Sambo champion. His last MMA fight was a UD win against Rodrigo Roberio (World Lightweight BJJ champion) in Jakarta, Indonesia. What was this guy doing in a small show in Wilkes-Barre, PA? Ask his coach, Greg Jackson.

Khabilov has been a Greg Jackson special project for about 6 months. In that time he's fought and won three times. This was his US debut and Jason Dent was his first outing against a UFC vet.  Like most Greg Jackson game plans, it went well.

Jason came out fast and pushed the pace hard in all three rounds, but his pressure was met with precise strikes and Sambo trips. All three rounds went to the ground quickly and ended with Jason on the bottom defending strikes. The judges saw it as a Unanimous Decision for Khabilov.

Written by: Bob Donaghy

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