Mohammed Usman lived up to his famous family name with a devastating knockout to finish Zac Pauga to claim The Ultimate Fighter championship at UFC Vegas 59 on Saturday.
According to experts in betting, Usman was an underdog. He needed only a quick left hook to clip Pauga in round 2. This sent Pauga to the ground in a heap. Usman followed with a single hammer first that separated Pauga from consciousness as the fight was stopped at just 36 seconds in the second round.
The win earns Usman a UFC contract where he’ll join his brother — reigning welterweight champion Kamaru Usman — in the promotion.
“No bad blood at all,” Usman said about Pauga afterwards. “I respect these guys. I respect Zak. They are my heroes. We both went to work, and ended up in this place. It’s so exciting to be back at work. We did it. We in the show.”
The heavyweights weren’t afraid to engage as Pauga and Usman were both throwing heavy leather in the early exchanges. Usman was throwing a lot of single punches, which prevented him from really catching Pauga off guard with his strikes.
In return, Pauga tried to put up counter punches to trap Usman and feed him a steady supply of kicks.
A very close first round gave way to more big exchanges in the second but this time around Usman was ready to set up his fight finishing sequence.
Pauga was seen ducking behind his head, and Usman timing the left hook which crashed into his chin. This sent the Team Elevation fighter to the ground. The follow up punch was just icing on the cake as Usman was quickly called off by the referee as he began celebrating alongside his coaches and family, who were in attendance in Las Vegas.
“He’s doing it,” Kamaru Usman said about his younger brother. “This is his moment. A new Ultimate Fighter, first brothers to do it in history.”
After a thrilling finish to the UFC reality competition, UFC heavyweight division will now be occupied by UFC’s UFC U23 fighter Usman.
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