LAS VEGAS – Heili Alateng scored a quick 47-second knockout on Saturday against Kevin Croom at the Apex, a UFC facility near the Las Vegas strip.
The bantamweight bout introduced a 14-bout card as the UFC returned to Vegas after events in London, Ohio and Florida.
Alateng made the UFC come back to town with a bang as he limited his opponent to just two shots from 12 throws, while fracturing Croom’s skull with nine of his own 17 shots.
The Chinese fighter’s relentless accuracy in the attack forced Croom back to the deck, stopping him for a few moments after the opening bell.
Alateng made it look easy when fighting is really anything but.
The beginning of the end came 40 seconds after the opening bell, when Alateng jabbed Croom’s body to disguise what was to come – a powerful right hand over the top wobbling the American.
Instinctively, Alateng confirmed a left hand at the end of the sequence, regrouped, then threw another flurry of strikes as Croom had his back against the fence. He was in real trouble now.
And so it wasn’t long before Croom was on deck. He tried to back up, but Alateng was there, ready to keep throwing shot after shot at him.
The referee didn’t even let him do that. He waved the match away. It was all over.
Watch the action here:
—ESPN MMA (@espnmma) Apr 16, 2022With the win, Alateng improved his pro MMA record to 15 wins (five knockouts, three submissions, and seven decisions) against eight losses.
Elsewhere in the preliminaries, Sam Hughes turned down Istela Nunes, Jordan Leavitt decided Trey Ogden and Rafa Garcia submitted Jesse Ronson.
In the main event, a welterweight bout, Vicente Luque took on Belal Muhammad in a 170lb weight that had potential implications for the championship landscape in that division.
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