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Carlos Ulberg (left) is the UFC's newest light heavyweight
Carlos Ulberg and three other prospects were signed to the UFC following their impressive performances on Dana White’s Contender Series.
New Zealand’s Ulberg, a teammate of reigning UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya and UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski, closed out the night in spectacular fashion by knocking out Bruno Oliveira in the first round of their light heavyweight contest. Ulberg connected with a left hook to Oliveira’s jaw, before landing a right hand for good measure.
The former model-turned-mixed martial artist improves to 3-0 in his professional career and earns a spot in the stacked light heavyweight roster of the UFC.
Welterweight prospect Ignacio Bahamondes channeled his inner-Anderson Silva to earn a UFC contract of his own, knocking out Edson Gomez with a brutal front kick to the face in the second round.
Bahamondes, who hails from Santiago, Chile, moves to 11-3 in his professional career, with eight wins coming via KO or TKO.
Speaking of front kicks, American featherweight Luis Saldana uncorked two of his own to finish off Vince Murdock and earn himself a UFC contract as well.
Saldana, who improves to 14-6 in his MMA career, stunned Murdock with a front kick and followed up with couple of punches before letting a second front kick fly to send his opponent down to the mat. Murdock managed to survive the onslaught but not for long, as Saldana got to mount and ended the fight with some vicious ground and pound.
Setting the tone for the night was American heavyweight Jared Vanderaa, who put Harry Hunsucker away with a barrage of thunderous shots on the ground for the first-round stoppage.
Vanderaa weathered an early storm from Hunsucker to earn the victory and a shiny new UFC contract.
Israel Adesanya praises Carlos Ulberg
Prior to Carlos Ulberg’s contract-earning KO win on Dana White’s Contender Series, his City Kickboxing Gym teammate and reigning UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya was already hyping him up.
Adesanya, who is set to challenge Jan Blachowicz for the UFC light heavyweight championship next year, spoke about Ulberg’s potential.
“He doesn’t want to be introduced as Izzy’s teammate, he wants to be introduced as Carlos Ulberg, ‘The Black Jag’, and I can’t wait, man. You guys are gonna see,” Adesanya. said in interview with Ariel Helwani.
“It’s a problem. It’s a problem having to deal with that guy, especially when he’s on. It’s a real problem, because I have to deal with him, and I’m the f*cking world champion,” Adesanya continued.
