Sam Sicilia silences Swedish crowd with explosive 1st-round KO
Sam Sicilia wanted to get back to his favorite kind of fight where he steps into the pocket, bites down on his mouthpiece and delivers bombs.
Mission accomplished in Sweden on Saturday night.
Sicilia came into the arena as an underdog to home country favorite Akira Corassani, with both fighters in need of a win after losses in recent contests.
The fighters both looked willing to strike, but while Corassani was moving and kicking from the outside, Sicilia was just looking to uncork one of his signature knockout punches.
Once he found his range, Sicilia moved inside and started winging haymakers at Corassani's head, and it only took one monstrous right hand to end the fight.
Sicilia connected flush on Corassani's jaw, and the Swedish-born fighter crashed to the canvas with an emphatic thud. Sicilia followed up with one more shot as the referee rushed in to stop the fight.
Sicilia gets a much-needed win after stepping into an opponent's home country or home state for the fifth time in his UFC career. Sicilia moves to 3-2 in his last five fights, with two of those victories coming by way of knockout or TKO.
The loss drops Corassani to 0-3 in his last three fights, and he may be on the outside looking in when the UFC roster is recalibrated after Saturday night's event is wrapped. In fact, he told Ariel Helwani that he's considering retirement.
