Diyar Nurgozhay left it until the final second, but still found a brutal finish to keep his promotional resurgence rolling at UFC Vegas 120.

Nurgozhay and Bruno Lopes spent most of the opening minutes trading kicks and working from range, with neither light heavyweight able to establish a clear advantage. That changed when Nurgozhay landed a clean shot that sent Lopes crashing to the canvas.

Lopes somehow managed to turn the sequence into a takedown attempt, but Nurgozhay quickly returned to his feet and went straight back on the attack. The Kazakh fighter began unloading along the fence, repeatedly hurting Lopes before forcing the referee to intervene with just one second remaining in Round 1.

The victory gave Nurgozhay his second straight UFC win after beginning his promotional run with consecutive stoppage defeats. The 29-year-old improved to 12-2 professionally and 2-2 in the UFC, while Lopes dropped to 14-4 overall and 1-3 inside the Octagon.

(Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)

For Nurgozhay, the result at UFC Vegas 120 marks a remarkable turnaround after his difficult start in the promotion. He has now won back-to-back fights in 2026 and appears to be finding the form that made him an intriguing light heavyweight prospect.