SAITAMA, Japan – Issei Tamura made a thunderous debut, especially on two weeks’ notice.
The Japanese featherweight ended the fight with a powerful right hand that dropped Chinese UFC and WEC vet Tiequan Zhang early in the second round.
The fight served as the first preliminary-card bout of UFC 144, which took place at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. It streamed on Facebook prior to additional prelims on FX and a pay-per-view main card.