On Christmas Eve, Ultimate Fighting Championship president Dana White Tweeted (@DanaWhite) that message, confirming UFC veteran Duane ‘Bang’ Ludwig(21-11) as the record owner for the fastest knockout in the promotions history at four seconds.
Ludwig finished opponent Jonathan Goulet back in January 2006 with one punch at a UFC Fight Night 3 event in Las Vegas.
Despite that bit of good news, the Nevada State Athletic Commission isn’t changing it’s mind and is keeping the official end of the bout at eleven seconds.
“The ruling is that it stays at 11,” NSAC Executive Director Keith Kizer today told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “There’s no legal avenue to overturn it.”
All of this seems to have come about after ‘The Korean Zombie’ Chan Sung Jung’s seven-second knockout of Mark Hominick at UFC 140 earlier this month. At the press conference White called it the fastest KO in the promotions history, tying Todd Duffee’s seven-second knockout of Canadian heavyweight Tim Hague at UFC 102.
Reporter Ariel Helwani put White on the spot saying that Ludwig was actually the one to unofficially hold the record, leaving the UFC president little choice but to check into the matter.
Back in 2006 at UFN 3, Ludwig finished opponent Jonathan Goulet in four-seconds, but due to a time-keepers error the bout was recorded as an eleven-second finish instead. ‘Bang’ dropped Goulet with a single right hand, sending his opponent falling to the mat.
Ludwig talked to MMAFighting.com about the NSAC decision, which sits fine with him as long as the UFC and fans know that he owns the fastest KO.
“A lot of people still don’t even know that the UFC has these athletic commissions, that they’re governed by a third party,” he said. “And of course, we know that the commissions sometimes make questionable calls, so I think the more credible source is the UFC anyway. I’m a hundred percent fine with the UFC being the one to make it official. I’d prefer that, actually.”
“Every athlete is always looking for a way to separate himself from the pack. This is a record that will probably never be [broken]. It never happened before, and it’ll probably never happen again. It’s definitely a cool thing to have next to your name,” he said, adding, “It’s also a good story to tell the kids. When I’m old and telling that story I can joke with them and go, you better go to bed because I can knock you out in four seconds.”