Misha Cirkunov (photo via Twitter)

By FCF Staff

While Misha Cirkunov wasn’t hoping to injure Alex Nicholson at UFC Fight Night 82 last weekend, the light-heavyweight says the fight served as a reminder of just how dangerous his submission game is.

Cirkunov forced Nicholson to tap-out to a neck crank in round two last Saturday, but unfortunately, the latter submitted after his jaw fractured. Nicholson, who was making his UFC debut, had suffered a broken jaw before.

Following the victory, which was Cirkunov’s six straight win, he told UFC.com the following:

“…Unfortunately, my opponent got injured; that’s part of fighting, but I hope he recovers. I found out after the fight that his jaw was already fractured before, so basically I just re-injured the old injury.”

“If people follow my fighting, I’m a grappler and it just shows that if people don’t tap on time or they’re thinking about holding out a little bit longer, that can happen,” he added. “If I’m known for that – that’s what I do, that’s my style and I’m just going to work at it more and more and I’m excited to get a lot better. I’m not going to be the same fighter when I fight next.”

The Latvian fighter joined the UFC last August and KO’d Daniel Jolly in the opening round. Cirkunov currently carries a record of 11-2.