Dubbed the 'captain' of Fight Club Berkut in the Caucasian region of Chechnya, Beslan Isaev knowshe did his countrymen proud when he knocked out former UFC fighter Cody McKenzie in the opening round of their feature fight last week in St. Petersburg.

It was a vicious finish; a flush knee to the jaw that separated McKenzie from his consciousness as he shot for a takedown and sent him into immediate retirement.

"I am normal; I did not have time to get tired," Isaev stated following the fight. "I expected more (from Cody) but will be content with what I got."

Although he is yet to fight for one of North America's elite promotions, Isaev is already 38 fights into his MMA career, and holds a 31-7 record overall. Nevertheless, McKenzie was certainly his biggest challenge to date and he was challenged to prepare for the unorthodox fighter accordingly.

"To be honest, I did not know how to prepare for him. Was thinking to work all three rounds, but it happened that I won (in the first round).

"I knew he is good in ground fighting, that is why I had to work on the distance in the stand up. However, it did not work."

McKenzie, who spoke to BloodyElbow ahead of his fight last week, revealed that he had trained vigilantly for the fight with Isaev and was looking forward to stringing together a few wins under the Russian promotion.

"I did all the right stuff for this one, honestly," McKenzie said after the fight. "I trained hard in Washington, I sparred, I ran, I did stairs and swan for miles. I worked hard. A lot of fights that I lost I didn't work for, but I can say that I worked hard for this one."

However, things did not go his way, and he was not ashamed to admit that he was simply beaten by a better fighter.

"I didn't win the fight because he was a better fighter than me. He was the better man, the better fighter and I got knocked out. He must have hit be good cause I have a really hard head but I don't remember anything. A lot of the fight is a big blur to me.

"I have no excuses. He was good."

McKenzie announced his retirement from professional competition shortly after the loss.

As for Isaev, he is expected to compete on the ACB card in Poland next month. If things go as planned, he will then likely set his sights on the UFC.

"The next fight I will have will be in Poland on January 30. Since I finished this fight without any injuries, I will rest for the remainder of the week and then continue training."