UFC Vegas 76: Kevin Lee's return ends in disaster as Rinat Fakhretdinov quickly puts him to sleep

Rinat Fakhretdinov spoke prior to his fight about his wrestling skills and how it would be the difference in his fight with Kevin Lee.

Wrestling was never a factor in the fight, however, though it still only took Fakhretdinov less than a minute to dispose of Lee on Saturday at Apex in Las Vegas at UFC Vegas 76. But you don’t generally get to 20-1 in MMA without having a series of weapons to use in competition.

Just 35 seconds into the fight, Fakhretdinov threw a jab that came up short. But he followed that with a blistering right hand that was right on the money and immediately dropped Lee.

Lee, who was making his first UFC appearance in 22 months, was essentially done after taking the right. He went down against the cage and was unable to move. Fakhretdinov quickly slapped on a guillotine and choked Lee unconscious.

It was a technical submission because referee Herb Dean stopped it at 55 seconds when he noticed Lee had gone to sleep via the choke.

It was a highly impressive win for a guy who stamped himself as a contender in the crowded welterweight division.

“You have to remember that we’re the new generation,” Fakhretdinov said in the Octagon after his win. “We’re the best fighters around here. I have nothing but respect for Kevin Lee. He’s a great fighter. I specifically studied him. I watched his tapes. I made sure to educate myself on him. I watched that [Gregor] Gillespie knockout [Lee scored on Nov. 2, 2019, in New York] day in and day out. I had his picture there that I looked at all the time.”

It was a significant win for Fakhretdinov, who beat a quality version of Lee. Lee was beginning his second stint in the UFC after getting cut following a loss to Daniel Rodriguez in 2021 and fighting one time — a decision over Diego Sanchez at Eagle FC 46 on March 11, 2022 — before re-signing with the UFC earlier this year.

Lee said all the right things before the fight and seemed in amazing physical condition, but the fight was over before he could even get started.

Lee’s record fell to 19-8 and the loss was his third in his last four outings. This time, though, it wasn’t a mistake that Lee made that cost him; rather, it was a picture-perfect right hand from Fakhretdinov and then a brutally tight guillotine.

Lee was out almost as soon as Fakhretdinov cinched the choke, but it took a while for Dean to determine that Lee had gone out.

Fakhretdinov is now 3-0 in the UFC and has won 17 by submission. He isn’t ranked yet, but that day shouldn’t be far away given his performances since joining the UFC.

He’s an extremely well-rounded fighter, as Lee found out.

“I can punch and I can wrestle; it all depends upon what our game plan is and what my coach says,” Fakhretdinov said. “If I have to be prepared to wrestle, I’ll wrestle. If I have to knock somebody out, that’s what I’ll do.

“The plan was to make him work; to take him to deep waters in the first round and try to hold him down, tire him out. That’s what we thought was going to happen and then to finish him before the end of the second round.”

Instead, he finished his best opponent within 60 seconds. He’s going to be a factor in the division before long if he keeps punching with that accuracy, crispness and power.