Darren Till knocks out Cerrone in the first round of UFC Poland

D. Till (right) remains undefeated in MMA (Photo: Reproduction Facebook UFC)

UFC Poland this Saturday (21) may have witnessed the emergence of a new big star. Making his first main fight, the Englishman Darren till completely dominated Donald Cerrone, knocking out the experienced North American in the first round in a result that will probably see his name skyrocket in the welterweight rankings. Till arrived in Gdansk unranked, but the decisive victory over sixth place should put him at least in the top-10 of the division.

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After the duel, the Englishman thanked the opportunity given by Cerrone, spoke about the power of his hands and even challenged Mike Perry, welterweight present in Gdansk, but already scheduled to fight against Santiago Ponzinibbio."AND

I'm the best fighter in the world, I really believe that. Look at this. I'm a heavyweight hitting, and I'm in the body of a welterweight (…) I want to praise and thank Donald Cerrone because before today I was nobody and he gave me this opportunity”, he said.

The knockout defeat leaves Cerrone in a difficult situation at 77 kg. After starting his journey in the new category with important victories in 2016, the American lost the three fights he had this year, two of them by knockout (Jorge masvidal and Till) and one per decision (Robbie Lawler).

In the second most important fight of the afternoon (night in Poland), the hostess Karolina Kowalkiewicz recovered from two straight losses and dominated newcomer Jodie Esquibel. With her technical muay thai and a lot of pressure in the clinch, the Polish woman had no problems overcoming the North American and placed herself back among the top strawweights in the world.

Till closes the account in the first round

After an event full of decisions, Till and Cerrone entered the octagon ready to put on a show for the crowd that filled the ERGO Arena, in Gdansk. But the Englishman showed all his strength by cornering Cowboy from the first minute, connecting hard lefts on the American's chin and disrupting his movement.

Little by little, Till gained confidence and anticipated Cerrone's blows, managing to dodge most of the American's punches and kicks, who even attempted a takedown, without success. And then the Englishman started connecting harder and harder blows, and Cowboy could no longer hide his discomfort at not being able to release his game.

That was when Till hit a sequence that shook Cerrone and the American ended up turning his back on the Englishman and falling to his knees, indicating to referee Marc Goddard that he could no longer fight.

Karolina breaks negative streak with authority

Entering the Octagon with the pressure of seeking a victory after two straight defeats, Kowalkiewicz didn't give bad luck a chance. Using her technically more refined Muay Thai, she cornered Esquibel from the start, using hooks and overhands over the American's guard and finishing combinations with knees. Despite having resisted well during the first round, the newcomer ended up succumbing to pressure from the hostess in the second round, and became almost a fixed target.

During the final 10 minutes of the fight, Karolina landed combinations and knees whenever she wanted, even hurting Esquibel on more than one occasion. At the end of the second round, she almost got an armbar, but the dominance continued at the same level in the final round. Kowalkiewicz also used his experience to stop Jodie's last impetus, who ended up being uncompetitive and losing her first UFC fight.

UFC Poland results:

MAIN CARD

Welterweight Weight: Darren till won Donald Cerrone by technical knockout at 4:20 of R1

Straw weight: Karolina Kowalkiewicz beat Jodie Esquibel by unanimous decision (3x 30-27)

Light Heavyweight: Jan Blachowicz won Devin Clark via submission (rear naked choke) at 3m02s of R2

Middleweight: Oskar Piechota defeated Jonathan Wilson by unanimous decision (3x 30-27)

PRELIMINARY CARD

Lightweight: Marcin Held won Nasrat Haqparast by unanimous decision (3x 30-27)

Bantamweight: brian kelleher beat Damian Stasiak via TKO in R3

Average weight: Ramazan Emeyev won Sam alvey by unanimous decision (3x 30-27)

Feather weight: André Fili beat Artem Lobov by unanimous decision (3x 30-27)

Welterweight Weight: Warlley alves beat Salim Touahri by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)

Bantamweight: Aspen ladd beat Lina Lansberg by technical knockout at 2:33 of R2

Feather weight: Josh Emmett won Felipe Sertanejo by unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-25)

Fatal change? Makhachev ignores warning and could end tragically at welterweight!