Shara “Bullet” Magomedov looked like he was in for a disappointing evening in the opening round of his fight with Michel Pereira at UFC Baku.
Saturday’s co-main event pitted two middleweights chasing a second straight win and early on, it looked like Pereira would pull off the upset after dropping Bullet with a right hand. Bullet managed to weather the storm and take control of the fight, outworking Pereira over the next two rounds to earn a unanimous decision win.
At the UFC Baku post-fight press conference, Bullet walked reporters through the challenging Round 1 sequence and how he managed to come back.
“I was coming out there knowing that he would have to kill me to get me out of there,” Bullet said via a Russian interpretor. “I was ready to die in that octagon. I missed that right [hand], was waiting for that right, I was hoping to get him on that right, and then I end up missing that right. But I did not get discouraged, I was on the bottom, I was working with my shots.
”I was trying to catch him, I was trying to capitalize on that because I saw that he pounced on me, he thought he was going to finish me, he smelled blood in the water, he wanted to kind of use that to finish the fight, and I wanted to use it the opposite way. I wanted to make sure to catch him and capitalize on that from my own side.”
Following that eventful first round, the activity in the bout dropped considerably, with neither fighter stringing together much meaningful offense, and Pereira at times looking like he’d rather tackle Bullet than trade shots with him.
It wasn’t surprising at all to Bullet that Pereira suddenly became a ground fighter.
“I saw that he was trying to go for a takedown,” Bullet said. “Every fighter with me from the very debut in the UFC, every fighter turns into a wrestler. Everybody wants to wrestle with me because nobody wants to play my game. Nobody wants to stand in front of me and have me play my game against them. So they all wait for that. They wait for me to throw out two, three shots, and then they try and counter me and they hope that there’s going to be this lucky punch that they’re going to land and that’s how they’re going to take it over. None of that really worked for them in this thing and I had to kind of adjust. I had to realize that instead of doing combination shots, I should just kind of go for more centered, more one, one, one or two instead of doing full combinations.
”I did land that knee, somehow it did not end the fight, I thought that it was going to end the fight. It didn’t work out, so I had to just continue, keep going, and find new and interesting ways to try and finish him.”
Now on his first win streak since late 2024, Bullet hopes to be booked against a ranked opponent next. He declined the suggestion of two-time UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya, though, deferring to friend Abus Magomedov, who called out Adesanya following a win earlier in the show.
Whoever it is, Bullet is eager to fight again and continue to grow his fan base.
“I’m a pirate and I’m ready to conquer new lands. I’m ready to come out to anywhere UFC comes out and I want to make sure to win the hearts of my fans and win new lands, conquer new lands, make sure that I get all the gold from all the new places,” Bullet said. “I don’t want to call out any names specifically. Whoever the UFC gives me, I’m ready to fight them. Anybody from top 15, top 10, even top 5, I’m ready for everybody. I’m competitive and I’m happy to get any fight. I really appreciate all the fights the UFC has been giving me and all the opportunities.”
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