UFC commentator Jon Anik named him the Australian rookie he was most excited to see – and breakout Australian lightweight Quillan Salkilld didn’t disappoint.
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Walking out for the first fight of Sydney’s UFC 312 card – draped in an Australian flag, and with Black Betty blasting – Salkilld earned in an incredible, and controversial, KO finish after just 19 seconds.
It now gives him the second fastest KO by a lightweight debutant in UFC history.
Speaking with Fox Sports Australia this week, Anik described the West Australian as the fighter who had impressed him most during this week’s range of fighter meetings – and for a card topped by UFC middleweight champ Dricus du Plessis and challenger Sean Strickland.
And it took just moments for the UFC commentator to be proved right.
In the opening exchanges with Anshul Jubli, Salkilld dropped his Indian rival with a big right, prompting the referee to dive in and call it off, even though the downed fighter was not out and, in fact, was grabbing at his opponent’s leg.
Immediately afterwards, Jubli appealed with the referee for diving on top of him and calling the fight off.
However, the Indian fighter had fallen incredibly hard when dropped and there was an argument for suggesting the referee had in fact saved him from more damage in a finish only moments later.
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Regardless, Salkilld is now in the UFC history books
“Perfect ending for my debut,” he said, before urging UFC boss Dana White to award him a $50,000 Performance bonus
Salkilld is among eight Australians appearing on the card, and one of the debutants – himself, alongside Sydneysider Colby Thicknesse and Victorian Jonathan Micallef.
Earlier in the week, Anik predicted the young Aussie to star on the Qudos Bank Arena card.
“Quillan Salkilld feels like he wants to go in there and hurt a man,” the commentator said, referencing the fighter who won his way into this event via Dana White’s Contender Series.
“I like the intensity, like the focus we got from him.
“And I think he has a pretty good match up in front of him (against Anshul Jubli).
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“Often times though, you don’t know how these fighters are going to respond in the big show.
“It’s great, for example, that Colby Thicknesse has been under the watchful eye of coach Joe Lopez since he was 12 years old.
“But how does his game actually translate when fighting somebody like Aleksandre Topuria in the UFC? Dealing with all the pressure, all the emotion that comes with that?
“The three UFC newcomers – Colby, Quillan and Jon — all seem even keeled, all seem to have a maturity that belies their years.
“But those lights hit bright Sunday and we’ll see who can handle it.”
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