Collin Anglin

Collin Anglin vs. Melsik Baghdasaryan

Round 1
A pair of once-beaten newcomers coming off of decision wins on Dana White’s Contender Series in September 2020 are about to dance, when Anglin (8-1, 0-0 UFC) and Baghdasaryan (5-1, 0-0 UFC) square off at featherweight. Both hold impressive knockout rates above 50 percent without a submission between them, and the strikes will almost certainly fly before referee Mark Smith. The UFC neophytes opt not to touch gloves before looking to knock the other’s head off, and Baghdasaryan starts off with kicks. He looses a head kick and several leg kicks, but Anglin is there to meet him with heavy punches. Both men land hard on each other, and Anglin walks forward with his right hand ready to unload on the chin. Anglin ties his foe up, but Baghdasaryan pushes off to free himself. Anglin holds tight, knees Baghdasaryan on the jaw twice, and Baghdasaryan yanks himself out. This clinch-to-knee exchange happens again, with Anglin scoring effectively with another knee. When Baghdasaryan gains some space, he gets off a one-two and a left hand down the pipe. Baghdasaryan reaches with a head kick, and he misses with a punch but follows it with a crisp left hand. Baghdasaryan knocks Anglin into the fence with another, but Anglin is ready to turn him about and set up a knee. Baghdasaryan rips the body with a knee, and he chains a knee into his combination to the same spot. Baghdasaryan clinches up, and Anglin welcomes it as he knees his foe in the face. Baghdasaryan slings a body kick as Anglin hobbles back, until he crashes forward and hits a takedown to put the Glendale Fighting Club on his back. Baghdasaryan scrambles and gets to a knees before standing up, and he tries to land strikes in the clinch but hands on to the cage and gets warned. Anglin plants his foot on the stomach a few times until Baghdasaryan has had enough and lays into him with a big left hand. He drills Anglin with another as the two get pressed into the wire again, leading to Anglin kneeing him a few times. The break comes courtesy of an Anglin elbow, and he mixes up his strikes with kicks and long punches to make Baghdasaryan reset. Baghdasaryan fires off a front kick and a left hand, and he wings a few standing hammerfists that land on the back of Anglin’s head as Anglin is rocked badly. Anglin hangs on tight to tie him up, and he just barely avoids a spinning back elbow on the break. Anglin pops him with a left hand, and he drops his hands and celebrates his handiwork as the round ends.

Sherdog Scores
Jay Pettry scores the round: 10-9 Baghdasaryan
Brian Knapp scores the round: 10-9 Baghdasaryan
Tyler Treese scores the round: 10-9 Baghdasaryan

Round 2
Both featherweights are fired up to pick up where they left off, and Smith has to hold them back until he clocks them in. Baghdasaryan takes the center of the cage as his foe circles around him, and the two trade calf kicks. They turn those low kicks into front kicks to the body, with one landing and the other answer. Anglin snipes him with a cracking body kick, and his foe paws out his fingers and may have poked the eye. There is no break, and Baghdasaryan instead lands his own body kick. Anglin steps in with a knee, and Baghdasaryan blasts him with a counter left hand that may have been a slap and not a punch. He throws this same strike again, a loud slap, as if his hand may be damaged from throwing it so hard, so often in the first round.
His feet are fine, and he proves this by launching a head kick that cracks Anglin behind the ear and sends him down to the ground in a heap. Anglin absorbs one flush hammerfist before Smith can reach him to stop the fight, as the kick was enough to knock the screws loose
. This knockout for Baghdasaryan ends a long stretch of decisions with a bang, while he became the first man to beat Anglin inside the distance.

The Official Result
Melsik Baghdasaryan def. Collin Anglin R2 1:50 via KO (Head Kick)