20-06-26
Levan Chokheli needed less than half a minute to make a statement in his UFC debut, stopping Leon Shahbazyan in a prelim welterweight bout at UFC Vegas 119 on Saturday.
The Georgian fighter finished Shahbazyan by referee stoppage just 23 seconds into the fight, after dropping him with a body shot that prompted referee Kerry Hatley to wave it off.
With the emphatic victory, Chokheli improved his professional record to 15-3, while Shahbazyan’s MMA record dropped to 12-5.
Chokheli, a Bellator veteran who went 4-3 in that promotion, entered the matchup as a sizable betting favorite over Shahbazyan. One of the few things he chose to express afterward was brief but pointed: "S.O.G."
