Kennedy Nzechukwu chokes Devin Clark unconscious, secures third-straight finish at UFC 288

The Ultimate Fighting Championship returned to us tonight, May 6, 2023, for UFC 288, going down live from the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.

Headlining the event is the return of former UFC flyweight & bantamweight champion Henry Cejudo (16-2), who makes his first appearance in three years in attempt to reclaim his throne against current champion Aljamain Sterling (22-3).

Co-headlining the event is a five-round welterweight affair between no. 4 ranked Belal Muhammad (22-3, 1 NC) and no. 5 ranked former title challenger Gilbert Burns (22-5).

Co-headlining the preliminary card tonight was a light-heavyweight showcase between Kennedy Nzechukwu (12-3) and Devin Clark (14-8). Nzechukwu came into the bout on a two-fight win streak, having secured both victories via knockout, while Clark came in having gone 2-1 over his latest three outings.

Continue reading to see how this light-heavyweight bout went down:

Official Result: Kennedy Nzechukwu def. Devin Clark via technical submission (modified guillotine choke) at 2:28 of round two

Clark’s gameplan is evident as soon as the bout begins, and it’s the same gameplan he always has, wrestle.

Though he’s denied on his first two attempts, he does take Nzechukwu down momentarily before Nzechukwu gets back to his feet. Clark catches Nzechukwu with a good right hand and wobbles him backward and absolutely unloads on him.

Nzechukwu comes back with a nasty elbow in the exchange that hurts Clark, and he follows up with a series of elbows along the fence that continue hurting Clark. He lands some good punches in close and some nice knees to the body in the clinch toward the end of the round as well.

Nzechukwu keeps this pace once the second round begins and continues to beat on Clark along the fence, primarily with his vicious knees to the body. Clark ends up shooting in on a double leg, where his neck is immediately wrapped up. From here, it was only a matter of time until he was choked unconscious.

Slept him with the standing guillotine 😳 #UFC288 pic.twitter.com/kqZ0C0hxXE

— UFC (@ufc) May 7, 2023

Kennedy Nzechukwu continues improving each and every time we see him, his future is certainly one to watch.

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Brady Ordway

I became a fan of combat sports when I was 12 years old. I was scrolling through the channels and landed upon Versus, where WEC was televised. Urijah Faber fought Jens Pulver for the second time that night. That's the first fight I ever saw, and I was immediately hooked. So eventually, I began covering the sport in the fourth quarter of 2018, and have since started writing about animals as well. If you'd like to see those pieces, be sure to check out learnaboutnature.com!

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