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‘Absolutely bananas’: UFC’s latest cult hero stuns with wild KO and celebration

A stunning knockout and athletic celebration by an unknown fighter has sent UFC fans berserk as they welcomed a new cult hero.

Matthew Sullivan
3 min read
November 8, 2021 - 10:36AM
Chris Barnett has claimed his first UFC win with an impressive finishing move (ESPN)

UFC has a new cult hero on its hands after Chris Barnett claimed his first UFC win with a staggering finishing move.

Appearing on the preliminary card for Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington’s headline bout, Barnett had his heavyweight fight against Gian Villante stopped in the second round on the back of an incredible spinning wheel kick that dropped his opponent.

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The 35-year-old dived in to finish it off with hammer fist shots on the ground before the fight was stopped by the referee.

The TKO victory pushed Barnett towards cult hero status just two fights into his UFC career.

He celebrated in emphatic style with a forward front flip where he landed cleanly on his backside.

“OH MY GOD!!!! Chris Barnett with a spinning wheel kick knockout on Gian Villante. That was INSANE,” UFC reporter Damon Martin posted on Twitter.

Barnett, who weighed in at 263 pounds (119kg) but says he’s “mentally 170 pounds (70kg)”, described his athletic celebration as the “fat man front flip”.

“I blame those trampoline places for giving me too much confidence,” he added.

Barnett’s vivacious positive energy was palpable as he danced his way out of the Octagon and through the crowd after his victory.

But he also endeared himself to UFC fans with a gracious tribute to his opponent straight after defeating Villante, who is expected to retire from the sport.

“My man here,” Barnett began as he addressed the crowd in New York’s Madison Square Garden.

“(A) two-week old at home. He’s about to retire. Excellent football coach. He’s got a son that is 22 months.

“This is his town, this is his place. Y’all stand up, cheer for my man!

“This might have been his last one but this ain’t it. He going to be riding with me from now on.

“Y’all hear me? Cheer for this man. Stand up New York, stand up for this man.”

Speaking later, Barnett revealed he had tried to find some dirt on Villante in a bid to motivate himself, but was unable to dig up anything negative about him.

“You’ve got to dig deeper to find out more and then you have a slight advantage,” he explained.

Chris Barnett's epic spinning kick did the damage.
Chris Barnett's epic spinning kick did the damage.

“Say for instance, he messed around and said in a vlog that he’s not getting sleep at night.

“I’m going to write that down, you know what I mean? You know, stuff like that.

“It’s good to look into them because say you find some stuff out about the person that you’re fighting but if you don’t like it, you can use that as motivation.

“There wasn’t a thing I found out about him that was bad. He wants to be a teacher, he’s got his kids, he takes care of his kids, like anything you can think of, he’s a positive influence.

“He’s just a great dude overall and you have to give somebody like that their moment.”

Barnett’s win capped an incredible preliminary UFC fight card on Sunday (AEDT) that featured six knockouts.

The other highlight KO came from Alex Pereira, with the former kick-boxing world champion making a thunderous debut in the UFC with a TKO win over Andreas Michailidis.

Pereira demolished Michailidis with a flying knee just 75 seconds into the first round.

Pereira thought he had done enough for a walk-off KO, but had to finish the fight with strikes on the ground.

Barnett was living his best life after his first UFC win. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images)
Barnett was living his best life after his first UFC win. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images)

UFC commentator Joe Rogan was in awe of Pereira’s explosiveness.

“It’s a different kind of power. You can’t stand in front of that man,” he said in commentary.

“That dude’s made out of mahogany. When you touch him, it feels like wood.

“He does that to everybody. He does that to world class kickboxers. It’s like he’s built differently. He hits them and dudes just go flying.”

Pereira had previously beaten UFC champion Israel Adesanya in a kickboxing contest.

Ian Garry, Nassourdine Imamov, Chris Curtis, and Bobby Green also had knockout victories on the preliminary card.

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Original URL: https://www.news.com.au/sport/ufc/absolutely-bananas-ufcs-latest-cult-hero-stuns-with-wild-ko-and-celebration/news-story/8cd9f6d78b532aeff6d4e29a6038fa61