Austin Tweedy‘s second fight on UFC Fight Pass went much better than his first.
Tweedy (11-2), who suffered a disappointing knockout loss to current UFC fighter Te Edwards at Dana White’s Contender Series 11 this past June, made a scintillating return to the cage at Wednesday’s Warrior Xtreme Cagefighting 76 event, knocking out David Putvin (9-3) in the opening round.
The bout served as the main event of the card, which streamed live on UFC Fight Pass as Warrior Wednesday 1 from Crystal Gardens in Southgate, Mich.
Tweedy came out throwing bombs from the start, sweeping his foe to the canvas with a big low kick but pulling away when a brief floor engagement saw Putvin gain a bit of control of a limb. On the restart, Putvin’s jab was impressive, snapping his opponent’s head back, but Tweedy just walked through the attacks and swung back with massive power shots. Putvin went to his back rather willingly, and Tweedy again engaged briefly before reseting to the feet. The decision proved wise, as a Tweedy right hand sent Putvin crashing to the canvas.
A few more punches on the floor followed, though it seemed the damage was already done. The fight was ultimately waved off at the 2:50 mark of the first.
That right there is a main event knockout for Austin Tweedy!
Crown him!#WarriorWednesday pic.twitter.com/cNbITQs058
— UFC FIGHT PASS (@UFCFightPass) February 28, 2019
In the night’s co-main event, Colombia’s Pipe Vargas (7-1) rebounded from the first loss of his professional career by notching a spectacular third-round knockout of Said Kahramonov (6-2).
Kahramonov was relentless at the start, driving forward for takedowns early and often. While he was successful more often than not, Kahramonov struggled to completely control the fight, with Vargas always scrambling and always looking to potentially reverse the action.
In the second, Kahramonov was again incredibly aggressive and was able to get the fight to the floor early, moving to the back. But Vargas again showed fantastic positional awareness, defending the choke and spinning free to the feet. On the restart, Vargas was deducted a point for grabbing the cage on yet another takedown attempt, but he seemed unfazed by the deduction and actually worked himself to Kahramonov’s back in an impressive scramble on the restart.
The action was back and forth to open the third, before Kahramonov again was able to score a takedown and move quickly to the back. However, Vargas refused to give up, again defending the choke and escaping to the feet. Once there, he started to find success with knees as Kahramonov continued to hunt the takedown. He stuck with the strategy as time wound down on the clock, and it paid off, with Vargas landing a perfect flying knee that left Kahramonov out cold at the 3:17 mark of the final round.
Straight from Hitsville, USA!!#WarriorWednesday pic.twitter.com/G4pZ8K4UAd
— UFC FIGHT PASS (@UFCFightPass) February 28, 2019
Warrior Xtreme Cagefighting 76 results include:
- Austin Tweedy def. David Putvin via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 2:50
- Pipe Vargas def. Said Kahramonov via knockout (flying knee) – Round 3, 3:17
- Jose Johnson def. Adam King via knockout (knee) – Round 1, 2:40
- Josh Smith def. Eric Ramirez via submission (short choke) – Round 2, 1:13
- Juancamilo Ronderos def. T.J. Martin via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)