The Salt Lake Special!

Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

The same kick. The same city. Another main event. Salt Lake City has some strange magic going on. UFC 291 is the second big pay-per-view to go down in Salt Lake City, Utah,…


UFC 291: Poirier v Gaethje 2
Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

The same kick. The same city. Another main event. Salt Lake City has some strange magic going on.

UFC 291 is the second big pay-per-view to go down in Salt Lake City, Utah, and it ended in eerily familiar fashion to the first event. UFC 278 ended with Leon Edwards scoring a massive come-from-behind victory over Kamaru Usman, hitting “The Nigerian Nightmare” with a head kick hidden behind a straight punch.

Now Justin Gaethje has knocked out Dustin Poirier at UFC 291 using almost exactly the same maneuver. He threw out a right punch and then followed it with a right head kick. The kick took “Diamond” right in the neck and knocked him down to the canvas. The ref called a stop to the fight moments later at 1:00 of round 2, making Gaethje the new BMF champion (watch the finish here).

Few were expecting “The Highlight” to win this way. If Gaethje is known for his kicks, it’s for his relentless leg kick game. So watching him pull off a similar technique to what Leon Edwards used to defeat Gaethje’s teammate Kamaru Usman was a trip. Fighters and fans watching couldn’t believe what they were seeing. Check out what they had to say about the wild moment on Twitter below:

And last but not least: Kamaru Usman in the house celebrating his teammate Justin Gaethje winning:


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