After a back-and-forth battle through two rounds, Chad Anheliger was happy to give the judges the night off after he crushed Jesse Strader with a counter left hook to earn a knockout at UFC Vegas 48.
The bantamweights were very evenly matched throughout the prelim bout, but just when Strader decided to get a little more aggressive with his striking, Anheliger made him pay with a pair of left hands in succession that produced the knockout. It was the second shot that twisted Strader’s head around as he crumbled to the canvas; Anheliger delivered a few more punches on the ground before referee Herb Dean called a stop to the contest at 3:33 of the third round.
Check out the finish above.
“I’m so happy with the win,” Anheliger said afterward. “I didn’t have a great camp. The last couple weeks didn’t go to plan at all actually. There was some challenges but we did it.
“He was defending what I do really well. Apparently, I’ve got a good left, too.”
Strader made a good showing for himself early as he battled with Anheliger in every position with the strike stats nearly even between them. Anheliger did manage an earlier knockdown in the fight after he clipped Strader.
Strader was quick to recover on that occasion, but Anheliger had no intention of allowing that to happen a second time. During another furious exchange in the third round, Anheliger measured his punches before unleashing the two counter left hooks back to back.
After a rough training camp where he was sick the for the last two weeks, Anheliger was excited to get the win and move forward with his UFC career; he notched his ninth consecutive win. Most importantly, he earned a victory in his octagon debut.
Get the latest gear
Loading comments...