Chris Gutierrez wasn’t having another close call.
The bantamweight scored a win over Danaa Batgerel with a beautiful spinning backfist on the UFC Columbus preliminary card on Saturday at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.
Watch the surefire Knockout of the Year candidate above.
It was a much-needed finish for Gutierrez who was not only coming off of a split nod over Felipe Colares, but a rough ending to the opening round of his matchup with Danaa. Danaa closed out Round 1 with a takedown after Gutierrez missed a spinning strike and battered him with hard punches on the ground.
Gutierrez stuck with his standup strategy in Round 2 and when he caught Danaa chasing him, he landed the spinning backfist that instantly robbed Danaa of his senses. Follow-up strikes on the ground sealed the deal for Gutierrez at the 2:34 mark of the round.
This is the third straight win for Gutierrez (18-4-2), who remained undefeated since losing his UFC debut in November 2018. He is 6-0-1 in his past seven fights. Gutierrez stepped into this contest as a replacement for Montel Jackson, who withdrew for undisclosed reasons.
Danaa (12-3) sees a three-fight first-round knockout win streak snapped.
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