A year and a half away took Kennedy Nzechukwu off to a slow start, but he finally warmed up in the second round before hitting a brutal right hook that ended Carlos Ulberg in the UFC 259 qualifiers.
As a teammate and training partner of UFC middleweight king Israel Adesanya, Ulberg entered the fight with great enthusiasm and certainly looked like a future candidate during the initial exchanges in the initial assault.
Ulberg hit Nzechukwu with a relentless series of punches, aiming at both the head and body and even hitting a huge kick to the head. But Nzechukwu refused to leave and, absorbing the punishment, also watched Ulberg punch himself after using so much energy to finish.
This led to a slugfest in the second round and Nzechukwu made Ulberg pay for his defensive defense after launching a flurry of shots culminating in a devastating right hook that placed the City Kickboxing light heavyweight in a pile on the screen. Nzechukwu followed with a few more shots while the referee hurried to interrupt the fight with the final reaching 3:19 of the second round.
“It feels great,” said Nzechukwu after getting his first victory since 2019. “I just tried to get my head on it. I need the touch time. I just had to pick up the pace, as my coach said. I just knew I had to push harder. It was a perfect stoppage. He’s a tough boy. “
After failing his debut in the octagon, Nzechukwu has now won consecutive wins, but none greater than his victory on Saturday night, while eliminating a highly praised prospect like Ulberg, who Adesanya had previously predicted would be UFC champion one day.