Efe Ajagba got the sense relatively early during his infamous fight with Zhan Kossobutskiy two months ago that his opponent was looking for an unconventional way out of it.

Going Golota against Ajagba was the rule-breaking tactic Kossobutskiy picked. The previously unbeaten southpaw from Kazakhstan hit the heavy-handed Ajagba low so many times that referee Chris Flores had no choice but to disqualify him early in the fourth round of a 10-round co-feature ESPN aired August 26 from Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The 34-year-old Kossobutskiy seemingly self-sabotaged a career he had worked hard to build in less than 15 minutes. He entered the ring with a 19-0 record, including 18-0 knockouts, but Ajagba believes he felt the power in Ajagba’s right hand and decided that he would rather get disqualified than knocked out in a televised bout.

“He didn’t want me to take him out,” Ajagba told BoxingScene.com after a press conference Thursday to promote his fight against Joe Goodall on Saturday night. “He felt the power. He felt the heat. That’s why he was doing that. He couldn’t handle it, so he got himself disqualified. I was not surprised. I was not happy at that moment. I tried to take him out, so he chose to do it on his own.”

Flores’ first point deduction for one of Kossobutskiy’s low blows occurred 31 seconds into the third round. Kossobutskiy had a second point taken from him for yet another low blow only 30 seconds later.

Flores could’ve taken a third point from Kossobutskiy with 20 seconds remaining in the third round, but he only warned him for a third foul below Ajagba’s belt in that round. Flores finally disqualified him once Kossobutskiy caught Ajagba low about 30 seconds into the fourth round.

Ajagba was warned once by Flores for a low blow as well, but he didn’t have any points deducted before Kossobutskiy consistently hit him below the belt.

The 29-year-old Ajagba will return to the ring 10 weeks later for his 10-round fight against Australia’s Goodall. Their main event will be streamed by ESPN+ from Tahoe Blue Event Center in Stateline, Nevada. Undercard coverage is set to start at 6 p.m. EDT and 3 p.m. PDT.

The Nigerian-born Ajagba (18-1, 13 KOs) is consistently listed as at least a 7-1 favorite to beat Brisbane’s Goodall (10-1-1, 9 KOs).

Goodall beat Ajagba by split decision, though, at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland. The 31-year-old Goodall, who stands 6-foot-5½ and usually weighs in at around 240 pounds, also stopped St. Louis’ Stephan Shaw (18-2, 13 KOs) in the sixth round of his last fight, which took place July 22 at FireLake Arena in Shawnee, Oklahoma.

Shaw took the 6-foot-6, 235-pound Ajagba the distance in his prior appearance six months earlier. Ajagba won that uneventful bout by the same score, 96-94, on all three cards January 14 at Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, New York.

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.