(The fact that Duane didn’t ass-punch Goulet at full strength proves what a classy guy he is.)
I’m sure you know the story by now: In January 2006, Duane “Bang” Ludwig met Jonathan Goulet at UFC Fight Night 3 and first-punch KO’d him in just four seconds. But due to a timekeeper’s error, the stoppage time was officially recorded as 11 seconds. It didn’t really bother Ludwig until he saw all the media attention that Todd Duffee got for knocking out Tim Hague in a “record breaking” seven seconds. This was clearly some bullshit.
But after several months spent petitioning the Internet, the Nevada State Athletic Commission, and the UFC, Ludwig has been vindicated, in the form of a tweet sent out by UFC president Dana White on Christmas Eve:
“@DUANEBANGCOM @ufc and for x mas you have the fastest KO in UFC history and it will be changed ASAP”
And now, here’s the NSAC’s Keith Kizer to play the Grinch/Scrooge role in this holiday miracle…
“The ruling is that it stays at 11. There’s no legal avenue to overturn it…I did tell [Ludwig’s] people. I timed it myself with a stopwatch. It was eight seconds. Officially, it’s got to stay at 11 seconds, but unofficially, it could be at eight.”
Although it appears just four seconds elapsed from when the time clock started and referee Mario Yamasaki intervened, Kizer said the official start of the fight was earlier.
“If you use a stopwatch, from the time the fight starts to the time that Mario grabs Duane, it’s about 7.9 seconds. Why the official timekeeper had it at 11, I don’t know. But it wasn’t 11, and it wasn’t four, either.”
Dana White responded with his trademark disgust: “Sounds like them. We reviewed it, and it’s correct. ‘Bang’ has the fastest knockout. It’s funny. The state athletic commissions are in place to look out for the fighters, but it seems like I’m always the one making sure they don’t get [expletive].”
For his part, Ludwig is just happy to be recognized in the UFC’s official history books, even if the NSAC isn’t on the same page yet. Via BleacherReport:
“The record is very cool to have, because it separates me from every other human being past, present and very possibly future,” said Ludwig, who will someday explain the importance of his record to his children with pride. “That’s some pretty cool stuff. Each athlete wants to stand out and this is a very big way to do so.”
Ludwig has won decisions in his last two UFC fights against Amir Sadollah and Nick Osipczak, and returns against Josh Neer at UFC on FX 1 next month. Jonathan Goulet retired from the sport last November.