Dustin Jacoby vs Kennedy Nzechukwu added to UFC Fight Night 225
We’ve got a very exciting light-heavyweight scrap going down at UFC Fight Night 225, where no. 15 ranked Dustin Jacoby (18-7-1) takes on Nigerian standout Kennedy Nzechukwu (12-3).
UFC Fight Night 225 is to go down on August 5, 2023, live from a to-be-determined venue and location.
Dustin Jacoby first came to the UFC with a record of 6-0 back in 2011, though he’d quickly fall to 6-2 in a three-month span, which got him released from the promotion.
Jacoby would go 4-3 over his next seven appearances, losing to the likes of former WSOF two-division champion David Branch, former Strikeforce light-heavyweight champion ‘King Mo’, and former Bellator middleweight title challenger John Salter.
Jacoby had began a professional kickboxing tenure in the middle of that 4-3 run, and eventually switched his full-time focus to the sport. He went 10-8 with nine knockouts over the course of 18 bouts, having fought against the likes of Alex Pereira and Simon Marcus (twice), both of which are two of the very best in the sport, and both of which are multi-time world champions.
He also tried his hand at professional boxing in this time, where he improved to 1-0 with a first round knockout victory.
In 2019, after four-and-a-half years away from the cage, Jacoby decided to return to MMA, where he won his return bout before appearing on Dana White’s Contender Series, a bout he also won.
This granted him another shot in the UFC, where he impressively went 6-0-1 through his first seven bouts.
However, he would lose a very controversial split decision to Khalil Rountree in his next outing last year in October, before losing his second-straight fight, this one to the undefeated Azamat Murzakanov.
Kennedy Nzechukwu on the other hand has been very impressive as of late.
The Nigerian native made his UFC debut in 2019, also with a record of 6-0, where he was submitted by Paul Craig.
Nzechukwu would then win his next three-straight, securing two knockouts in that time, one of which coming over 19-2 professional kickboxer Carlos Ulberg; he’s still to this day the only man to defeat Ulberg in MMA. He’d then lose his next two-straight however, though one came via split decision in a fight he was deducted one point in for repeated fouls.
Funny, each of these men have a split decision defeat in their recent careers that they should have won.
Nonetheless, since then Nzechukwu has won his last three-straight, having defeated the likes of Karl Roberson (TKO), Ion Cutelaba (TKO), and most recently Devin Clark (guillotine choke), where he picked up the first submission victory of his career.
These two have a few common opponents:
Both have defeated Roberson via TKO, Nzechukwu in MMA and Jacoby in kickboxing, Jacoby battled to a draw with Cutelaba while Nzechukwu stopped him, and Jacoby KO’d Da Un Jung, while Nzechukwu was KO’d by him.
Both of these men, as you could expect, are knockout artists, 11 of Jacoby’s 18 wins coming via knockout, and 8 of Nzechukwu’s 12 wins coming via knockout, and each boast just one submission victory to their credit.
Who do you see coming out on top in this light-heavyweight encounter going down at UFC Fight Night 225?
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