Robelis Despaigne made it look easy in his UFC debut.
The 6ft 7in judoka, who won a bronze medal at the London 2012 Olympics, knocked out Josh Parisian in 18 seconds at UFC 299 in Miami on Saturday night.
Both men threw big strikes from the first bell, but Parisian made the grave mistake of rushing Despaigne when he slipped and momentarily landed on his back.
The Cuban KO artist was moving backwards and still caught him with a flush three-punch combination, which ended with a massive right hook to score a knockdown.
Despaigne followed up with a few ground punches before the referee stepped in and confirmed his first UFC win after just 18 seconds in the Octagon.
A quick finish by MMA premier promotions standards was actually the longest fight the 5-0 prospect has had since being six seconds shy of fighting for a full round in his June 2022 pro debut.
Despaigne followed that up by scoring a rapid 12-second KO before bizarrely finishing his next two opponents in a combined time of just seven seconds.
After wiping out Miles Banks in four seconds last December, Dana White snapped him up and excited fans by revealing that Despaigne has the biggest reach in company history.
Now, it appears the heavyweight division has a new, exciting contender.
“The message for Dana White is I want the bonus,” Despaigne told Sportsnet post-fight.
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“I want the $50k I think I deserve it.
“There was a lot of work for me and my whole family working for this.”
As a latecomer to MMA, Despaigne knows he doesn’t have much time to work with, but his main goal is to win the UFC heavyweight belt from Jon Jones as soon as possible.
“He added about his fighting future: “It all depends on how soon I get to the belt.
“I feel healthy, I feel good, and my plan is to become champion and defend the belt a couple of times so it will depend on that.”
