Paddy Pimblett rose to the occasion by tapping out Kazula Vargas in the first round at UFC London.
Vargas landed a good right hand as the fight started, with the Mexican quickly finding himself on top of 'The Baddy' on the ground. Pimblett spent a bit of time on his back before getting up on his feet and securing a takedown of his own, much to the roar of the London crowd.
The Liverpudlian took the back of Vargas and sunk in a rear-naked choke that forced the Mexican to tap. An ecstactic Pimblett called out Mark Zuckerberg after his win and labelled the FaceBook CEO as the "biggest bully". Pimblett wasn't that impressed by his performance, rating it a "six out of ten".
Pimblett was competing for the first time in six months, having knocked out Luigi Vendramini in his UFC debut last September. The former Cage Warriors champion became a promotional star after the win, capturing the attention of fight fans worldwide and signing a seven-figure deal with Barstool Sports.
Vargas, who was signed by the UFC in 2019, was entering his fight against ‘The Baddy’ having not fought in almost a year. The Mexican rebounded after consecutive losses to Alex da Silva Coelho and Brok Weaver by outpointing Rong Zhu last April. The loss means Vargas has now lost three of his four UFC appearances.
Elsewhere on the card, Pimblett's teammate Molly McCann scored a knockout of the year contender as she rendered Luana Carolina unconscious with a spinning elbow in the final round. Ilia Topuria also bagged a brutal knockout, stopping Jai Herbert on the main card opening bout after being dropped in the first round.
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Paul Craig proved again why he is one of the best submission specialists in the UFC, surviving an early scare to tap out Nikita Krylov with a triangle choke. Jack Shore knocked down Timur Valiev three times as he extended his unbeaten run to 16 fights and picked up his fifth UFC win.
Cory McKenna was the first British fighter to suffer defeat on the card as she was on the wrong end of a split decision to American strawweight Elise reed. Flyweight prospect Muhammad Mokaev started off the card in style, dropping Cody Durden with a flying knee and latching onto a guillotine choke to win his UFC debut in under 60 seconds.
