UFC Fight Night 36 results, photos: Zubaira Tukhugov handles Douglas de Andrade

JARAGUA DO SUL, Brazil – Zubaira Tukhugov smiled through the boos and kept his focus on his work against Brazilian fighter Douglas de Andrade, and the result was a unanimous decision victory (30-27, 29-28, 30-27) for the Chechnyan in his UFC debut.

The featherweight bout opened the preliminary card of today’s UFC Fight Night 36 event at Arena Jaragua in Jaragua do Sul, Santa Catarina, Brazil. It streamed on UFC Fight Pass ahead of the main card on FOX Sports 1.

If Tukhugov suffered from any octagon jitters his first time out, you couldn’t have guessed. He grinned all the way through the hostile reception from the Brazilian crowd, then opened up with an array of spinning attacks in the first round before eventually slicing de Andrade open with a punch and sending him back to his corner bloodied and battered after the opening frame.

The action continued more or less according to that script for the next two rounds, as Tukhugov mixed takedowns with punch combos to keep de Andrade on the defensive, ultimately resulting in a clear, though not quite dominant, decision victory.

“I am thankful I was able to go three rounds,” De Andrade said. “For someone who only had nine days to prepare for the fight, I think I did very well. There are no excuses. I took the fight, but I feel like it will be a whole different story when I’m able to train for longer.”

De Andrade (22-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC) suffers the first loss of his pro career as a result of the defeat in his UFC debut. Tukhugov (16-3 MMA, 1-0 UFC) has now won seven straight.

Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 36 results include:

• Zubaira Tukhugov def. Douglas de Andrade via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 30-27)

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 36, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of the site.

John Morgan contributed to this report on-site in Brazil.