5 UFC debutants who wasted no time in delivering a knockout

#4. Todd Duffee vs. Tim Hague – UFC 102

Todd Duffee produced a record-setting knockout in his UFC debut

Todd Duffee was already widely considered as one of the heavyweight division’s top prospects when he was signed by the UFC in mid-2009. With that in mind, plenty of eyes were on his octagon debut against Tim Hague despite it being placed on the preliminary card.

Duffee only had five professional fights to his name, but his reputation in training camps was widely formidable. His last fight prior to entering the octagon saw him beat PRIDE veteran Assuerio Silva badly.

Nobody could’ve foreseen the impact he’d have in his debut on the big stage, though. Hague was a huge opponent, with a UFC victory over Pat Barry under his belt, but Duffee didn’t seem to care about that. He showed it by refusing to touch gloves.

Seconds later, the fight was over. Duffee slipped a sloppy shot from ‘The Thrashing Machine’ and hit him with a stiff jab that dropped him hard. From there, he quickly pounced and finished him off with a series of brutal punches.

The fight lasted just seven seconds, making it amongst the fastest knockouts in UFC history. Duffee had sealed his spot as a major rising star, even if injuries and various other issues in the years that followed meant that he was never quite able to fulfil that early promise.

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#3. David Terrell vs. Matt Lindland – UFC 49

David Terrell arguably saved the middleweight division with his debut knockout over Matt Lindland

Without a champion since the departure of Murilo Bustamante, the UFC’s middleweight division was in dire need of a shot in the arm in mid-2004. That shot, in the form of a violent knockout, came from a surprising place: an octagon debutant who had more of a reputation as a grappler than a striker.

David Terrell was widely recognized as one of the best grapplers on the planet when he was signed by the promotion. He’d submitted the likes of Dean Lister and Ricardo Almeida and had never had a point scored on him in a jiu-jitsu competition.

However, when he was matched against Matt Lindland, the top-ranked 185lber in the promotion at the time, for his octagon debut, it seemed like the odds were stacked against him.

It took ‘The Soul Assassin’ just 24 seconds to turn those odds on their head. Never a technically-skilled striker, Lindland came out with his hands a little too low and Terrell rushed him, missing with his first punch but then connecting with his second, a clean left hook.

‘The Law’ was sent down to the canvas and before he had any chance to recover, Terrell was on him, bouncing his head off the mat with a series of nasty punches that knocked him silly.

A star was made in an instant and with the less-marketable Lindland finally out of the picture, the UFC immediately re-introduced the middleweight title.

Although Terrell would fall to Evan Tanner in that title bout and would only fight once more in the octagon, it’s probably fair to credit him with saving the division in a lot of ways.