Tofiq Musaev made light of his underdog status as he surged into the Rizin lightweight grand prix final and claimed a unanimous decision victory over pre-tournament favorite Patricky Freire at Rizin FF 20 in Saitama. The two semifinal matchups in the lightweight grand prix tournament produced brutal, quickfire finishes as Azerbaijan’s Musaev (18-3 MMA, 5-0 Rizin) and Brazilian Bellator star Freire (23-9 MMA, 2-1 Rizin) registered impressive stoppage wins. Musaev’s power was too much for Johnny Case as he stopped the American with his heavy-handed punches in just under three minutes in the opening bout of the night, while Freire trumped that performance with a 28-second battering of fellow countryman Luiz Gustavo as he bludgeoned him with strikes, then finished with an exclamation point as he connected with a vicious soccer kick to the his man as the referee dived in to stop the contest after just 28 seconds. It set things up for the tournament final later in the night as the two fighters, both fresh from their swift victories at the start of the event, stepped through the ropes in prime condition for the final at the end of the preliminary card
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