Sadriddin Akhmedov keeps Kazakh flag flying on Chumash undercard

Kazakhstan has had its fair share of middleweight champions in recent years, with Janibek Alimkhanuly following the path blazed by Gennady Golovkin, and Sadriddin Akhmedov made a case that he might be next in line after he destroyed Antonio Todd inside a round Saturday at the Chumash Resort and Casino in Santa Ynez, California.

The fight was the co-main event to the junior welterweight fight between Cain Sandoval and Romero Duno and was streamed on UFC Fight Pass.

The taller Todd started off trying to keep Akhmedov at range, but the muscular Akhmedov (14-0, 12 KOs) blasted him down to one knee and partway through the ropes with his first offensive flurry, culminating in a pair of left hooks and a right hand. Todd (17-11, 10 KOs) made it to his feet, but Akhmedov sent him reeling around the ring with a succession of right hands, and when he trapped Todd against the ropes and opened up, referee Ivan Guillermo stepped in to halt the fight.

Despite looking sharp at 154 pounds in his U.S. debut, Akhmedov for now has his eyes set on one division lighter.

“One-fifty-four, be ready,” he declared afterward.

In an entertaining light heavyweight contest, Umar Dzambekov remained unbeaten by stopping Eddie Ortiz in the fourth round of a scheduled eight.

After a slightly frenetic first round, the pace settled down slightly in the second and Dzambekov (9-0, 6 KOs) began to show his superior class. Midway through the round, the former nine-time Austrian amateur champion landed a series of five left hands to Ortiz’s head in close – and also found success with sharp combinations.

Ortiz (13-2-2, 5 KOs) stalked forward in the third, but he seemed unsure how to cope with Dzambekov’s hand speed and combinations, and in the fourth one such combination concluded with a short right hand that dropped Ortiz to the canvas. Dzambekov immediately backed Ortiz toward a corner, and a sweeping left hook put the Texan down again, prompting a stoppage from referee Gerard White at 54 seconds of the round.

The card’s second bout saw featherweight Danny Robles (9-3-1, 5 KOs) score a unanimous four-round decision over Jonathan Almacen.

It looked initially as if the larger Robles might overwhelm Almacen in the first round, but then Almacen (7-12-3, 2 KOs) found his range and landed a big lead right hand. Another big right hand scored in the third, and the two men exchanged power punches in a furious exchange at the end of the fourth.

With just two stoppage wins in 21 previous pro bouts, however, Almacen needed more than an occasional big punch. But he struggled to get past Robles’ smothering offense, which kept him against the ropes for much of each round. Scores were 39-37 twice and 40-36.

In the opener, Angel Carrillo moved to 3-1 (2 KOs) by stopping Josh Navarro (1-2-1) in the third of a scheduled four junior featherweight rounds.

Carrillo had too much offense for a recalcitrant Navarro, and if anything stepped up his aggression after being cut by an accidental head-butt in the previous frame. Time of the stoppage was 2:30.