Kevin Jousset made good on his Octagon debut earlier tonight (Sat., Sept. 9, 2023) at UFC 293 live on ESPN+ pay-per-view (PPV) from inside Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia, choking out Conor McGregor’s training partner, Kiefer Crosbie, with an impressive first-round submission (rear-naked choke).
Jousset brought a lot of hype with him into his UFC debut, but so did Crosbie. A long-time training partner of McGregor, Crosbie possesses some serious punching power and has competed against much better competition. He got off to a good start in the early going, but things quickly fell apart for the Irishman.
That’s because Jousset started to slow him down with hard calf kicks. It allowed Jousset to follow that up with crisp strikes from range and then an eventual takedown with less than 30 seconds left in the first. It didn’t take Jousset long to lock up the choke and force Crosbie to tap for just the second time in his career.
Check out the highlights below courtesy of UFC/ESPN:
KEVIN JOUSSET LOCKS IN FOR THE FIRST FINISH OF #UFC293
CKB starts the card 1-0. pic.twitter.com/0vxVX37Mq1
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) September 9, 2023
Jousset, 30, has now won his last four professional fights and just locked up his first-career submission finish. He has a great team behind him in City Kickboxing, but “Air” will need to show more as he starts climbing the welterweight rankings.
For complete UFC 293 results, coverage, and highlights click HERE.