Kennedy Nzechukwu overcomes adversity to TKO Ion Cutelaba at UFC Vegas 65
The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to us today, November 19, 2022, for UFC Vegas 65, going down live from the UFC Apex in Enterprise, Nevada. Click here for UFC Vegas 65 results. Headlining the event was a light-heavyweight affair between Kennedy Nzechukwu (10-3) and Ion Cutelaba (16-8-1), as Derrick Lewis (26-10) was forced from his main event slot against Serghei Spivac (15-3) the day of for undisclosed reasons.
Cutelaba hasn’t quite lived up to the hype that once surrounded him, despite still only being 28 years old. He came into the bout having gone 1-4-1 over his last six, being finished in all four defeats, while Nzechukwu came into the bout with a promotional record of 4-3, being finished in two of those defeats.
They are both finishers however, as Cutelaba secured 12 of his 16 victories via knockout, while Nzechukwu came in having secured seven knockout victories thus far into his career.
Continue reading to see how our three round light-heavyweight main event of the evening went down:
Official Result: Kennedy Nzechukwu def. Ion Cutelaba via TKO (knee & punches) at 1:02 of round two
Cutelaba lands a hard right hand at the beginning of the bout that wobbles Nzechukwu backward, before tying up with him along the fence.
Cutelaba is able to secure a beautiful trip takedown straight into mount, and he stays on top for a substantial amount of time. Once Nzechukwu works his way up, Cutelaba hip tosses Nzechukwu right back down to the mat slamming him on his back. Nzechukwu would remain on his back until the horn sounded.
Nzechukwu gets to work in the second however, as he presses the action landing some nice clean punches and defending Cutelaba’s early takedown attempts. Nzechukwu then times a beautiful knee as Cutelaba changes levels and stuns him badly.
Nzechukwu then pursues him with some more accurate punches, and he tries to time some more knees up the middle, one of which catches Cutelaba right on the chin stumbling him backwards.
Cutelaba folds after eating an uppercut along the fence, and some ground-and-pound later the fight was stopped.
NZECHUKWU WITH THE KNEES
— 🌴ᴛʜᴇᴀʀᴛᴏꜰᴡᴀʀ🌴 (@TheArtOfWar6) November 19, 2022
Nzechukwu overcame a very difficult round one where he was dominated the entire five minutes, and then he comes out and stops a knockout artist like Ion Cutelaba early in the second. Just incredible.
Kennedy Nzechukwu is now 11-3 as a professional with eight knockouts, and he’s now on a two-fight win streak following victory at UFC Vegas 65.
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