Nigerian fans will start following the exploits of another ace in Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) following the breakthrough achieved at the weekend by Dan Ige (aka 50K), megasportsarena.com reports.
Ige, born August 6, 1991 to a Nigerian father and US mother, is an American mixed martial artist currently competing in UFC’s Featherweight division, where he has been a professional since 2014, during which time he has competed in Legacy Fighting Championship, Pancrase, RFA and Titan FC, then rose to number nine in the featherweight rankings.
His burst into prominence came on Saturday, when Ige (15-3 MMA, 7-2 UFC added another performance bonus to his resume on Fight Night 187, with a knockout victory over fast-rising Canadian featherweight, Gavin Tucker within just 22 seconds.
The violent, one-punch finish occurred when both fighters opened up and exchanged for the first time. It was Ige who landed first with a speedy right hand. The blow crumpled Tucker (13-2 MMA, 4-2 UFC), who crashed to the canvas. No follow-up shots were required or used. Instead, the fight was immediately waved off.
Ige went home with one of the individual diadems, as the organisers handed out four $50,000 bonuses from the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, USA, where the Nigerian-born fighter earned an accolade for ‘Performance of the Night.’
MMA Junkie’s top writer, Nolan King wrote in his report: “The performance gets Ige back into the win column after a July unanimous decision loss to Calvin Kattar in the UFC on ESPN 13 main event.
“Ige, 29, now has won seven of his most recent eight outings. As for Tucker, the loss snaps a three-fight winning streak. His only other career loss came to Rick Glenn at UFC 215 in September 2017.
“The defeat to Ige was the first time he was finished in his professional career. The featherweight bout was part of the UFC Fight Night 187 main card at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. It streamed on ESPN+.”
