He was certainly closer in size to Krzysztof Jotko than he was Spann when the two met in early October, but unfortunately for the Latvian-born Canadian, the overall result wasn’t what he had wanted.
The two engaged in a low-output clinch battle, with Cirkunov landing on the wrong side of a split decision verdict, with the loss dropping his record to 15-7 overall and 6-5 inside the Octagon.
Their striking numbers were virtually identical, and Cirkunov amassed just over four minutes of control time and five successful takedowns, but the consistency throughout the fight wasn’t there. The 34-year-old actually won the first and third rounds on two of the three scorecards, but not the same two scorecards, while Jotko unanimously won the middle frame and ended up getting his hand raised.
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Now Cirkunov makes his second cut down to 185 pounds, a little more aware of what UFC middleweights bring to the table, and eager to get his 2022 campaign off to a successful start.
In order to do that, he’ll need to get through Turman, who debuted in the Octagon eight days before turning 23 and has amassed a 2-3 record through his first five starts.
Nicknamed “The Prodigy,” Turman garnered a call to compete on the biggest stage in the sport by winning 15 of his first 17 pro fights, a run that was capped by a first-round submission finish over former TUF Brazil finalist and UFC competitor Marcio Alexandre Jr.. After splitting a pair of appearances in his rookie season, Turman suffered back-to-back first-round stoppage losses against Andrew Sanchez and Bruno Silva before rebounding with a split decision victory over Sam Alvey last time out.