'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Alexandr Romanov exhibited his grappling prowess by submitting Chase Sherman before the American could land any strike at UFC Fight Night: Font vs. Vera.
The Moldovan fighter secured his 16th consecutive win in two minutes and 11 seconds of round one. First, ‘King Kong’ took down his opponent, then he took the mount and showered him with punches. The key was isolating Sherman’s right arm, which led to Romanov executing the Americana submission.
Of Romanov's 16 victories, only one was a split technical decision due to Juan Espino’s accidental knee to the groin, which rendered 'King Kong' unable to continue. The rest of the opponents were defeated by the Moldovan's striking power or submitted.
Due to this loss, Chase Sherman made Fight Forecast's “Punked list” as he didn't throw any strikes during this bout. The list’s author Richard Mann posted on Twitter:
“I am going to have to update the 2021 "Punked" list, because Alexandr Romanov finished Chase Sherman before he could land anything #UFCVegas53”
Despite getting the date wrong, the 2022 list is not very long as it now contains only two bouts: Danilo Marques vs. Jailton Almeida (2/5/2022) and Michael Gillmore vs. Ramiz Brahimaj (2/26/2022).
Alexandr Romanov joins the list of heavyweights with the longest active winning streaks
The submission win over Chase Sherman put Alexandr Romanov on the list of UFC heavyweights sporting at least a five-fight winning streak.
With his six-fight winning streak, reigning UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou is on top of the list. He holds victories over Curtis Blaydes, Cain Velasquez, Junior dos Santos, Jairzinho Rozenstruik, Stipe Miocic and Ciryl Gane. The last two bouts were title fights.
Tom Aspinall, Tai Tuivasa, and Romanov have won five.
‘King Kong’ defeated Roque Martinez, Marcos Rogério de Lima, Juan Espino, and Jared Vanderaa before the victory over Chase Sherman.
Tom Aspinall beat Jake Collier, Alan Baudot, the former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski, Sergey Spivak, and Alexander Volkov.
Stefan Struve, Harry Hunsucker, Greg Hardy, Augusto Sakai, and Derrick Lewis were all knocked out by Tai Tuivasa.
With Ngannou sidelined with a knee injury and targeting a potential crossover fight with WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, UFC could be forced to crown the interim heavyweight champion and three of the competitors mentioned above could find themselves in title contention.
