Joaquin Buckley earned himself another highlight reel victory on Saturday night, blasting Andre Fialho with a perfectly-timed head kick in the second round of their UFC Vegas 73 clash.
After dropping back-to-back bouts against Nassourdine Imavov and Chris Curtis at middleweight, Buckley made the drop to 170 for his bout with Andre Fialho. Both men walked into the matchup in need of a victory. After nearly two rounds of action, it was ‘New Mansa’ who would have his hand raised, blasting Fialho with a vicious head kick with less than a minute left in the second. Fialho crashed to the canvas as referee Kerry Hatley rushed in, but stopped short of calling for the stoppage. That encouraged Buckley to land a nasty uncontested hammer fist, at which point Hatley shoved Buckley away and signaled for the stoppage.
With the victory, Buckley moved to 6-4 under the UFC banner and 16-6 overall. Fialho fell to 2-4 inside the Octagon, 16-7 overall. Fialho has now lost three straight.
Official Result: Joaquin Buckley def. Andre Fialho via KO (head kick) at 4:15 of Round 2