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. We were faced with some difficulties, but it was worth it.
“He was very proud of what I do. Evidently, I have a great left .”
Strader was a strong performer early on, as he fought Anheliger at every position. Their strike stats were almost even. After Strader’s clip, Anheliger managed to knock down Strader earlier in the fight.
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 difficult training camp, during which he had been sick for two weeks, Anheliger was eager to win the fight and continue his UFC career. He scored his ninth consecutive victory. Most importantly, he earned a victory in his octagon debut.
