It was a long time between octagon appearances for Todd Duffee, but the massive heavyweight returned with a vengeance at UFC 155.
Displaying the power that made him an intriguing prospect his first time around, Duffee knocked out Phil De Fries at 2:04 of the first round.
“Two years is a long time,” he said afterward. “I’m happy to be back.”
The fight was a quick burst of action. Duffee came out quickly with a power combination that backed De Fries up, but the Brit withstood the attack and managed to take Duffee down.
He didn’t stay there for long, returning to his feet in seconds. Back in his comfort zone, he soon changed the momentum of the bout by landing a crushing uppercut. A second one knocked De Fries back towards the fence, where Duffee swarmed him with a barrage of power shots until De Fries crumpled to the ground and the referee had seen enough to call a halt to the action.
“It awesome,” Duffee said. “I heard right hand, right hand, right hand, and I kept throwing it.”
Duffee’s last appearance in the UFC came at UFC 114 in May 2010, when he lost in a third-round KO to Mike Russow in a fight he had been leading up until the knockout punch. Afterward, he was cut with UFC president Dana White citing attitude problems for his unexpected release.
Away from the UFC, Duffee fought only twice, losing to Alistair Overeem in December 2010 and taking all of 2011 off before defeating Neil Grove in April. He’s now 8-2.
DeFries fell to 9-2 with 1 no contest.