UFC Denver fight ends in vicious 18 second KO as Montel Jackson earns $50,000 bonus and comes within one second of record
07/14/2024 06:46 AM
Rising bantamweight prospect Montel Jackson may have earned his spot in the rankings with a stunning first round KO last night.
The little-known UFC star competed on the prelims of yesterday’s Denver event, facing Da’Mon Blackshear after over a year out of action. Jackson has been struggling to get matched, and bouts with Said Nurmagomedov and Farid Basharat have fallen through in recent months.
And he showed just why many bantamweights won’t want to step into the cage with him, blasting out Blackshear within seconds of their prelim bout. In fact, his 18 second KO was the second-fastest stoppage in the division’s history.
Montel Jackson knocks out Da’Mon Blackshear in 18 seconds at UFC Denver
After Blackshear stepped in at short notice to face the soaring prospect Jackson, he had next to no time to get warm as he was immediately swarmed by his rival. Ultimately a very basic one-two combination from Jackson was enough to land clean and within seconds he was declared the winner.
Had he been just two seconds quicker he would have broken the record set by Erik Perez when he knocked out Ken Stone in 2012. But it was still one of the most stunning moments on an otherwise lacklustre night and saw him given a $50,000 Performance of the Night bonus.
On the broadcast, commentator and former champion of the division Dominick Cruz warned exactly what was going to happen. With just over ten seconds on the clock he noted that viewers should “watch the straight punches of Jackson, they’re just lightning, straight down the pipe.”
And after the knockout landed, Cruz added: “I mean, I know they’re fast but that was really fast. Watch the film, this guy’s one-two is lightning, it’s down the pipe, it’s straight.
“And those are the most dangerous punches because when your guard is up in these four ounce gloves they sneak right through the defence.”
Montel Jackson demands bantamweights agree to fight him after massive KO
While many casual viewers may not be aware of the name Montel Jackson, it is already making its way into the history books alongside some of the sport’s greats. His power is noteworthy, and Blackshear was the seventh consecutive opponent he has knocked down in the UFC.
That alone puts him level with record-holders Chuck Liddell and Rampage Jackson, while his win streak is now third only to Mario Bautista and Merab Dvalishvili in his division. He wants that next outing quickly, and the broadcast team mentioned that such an emphatic win should earn him a top 15 berth.
But in his post-fight octagon interview, Jackson was mainly concerned with having any bantamweight at all answer the call. He made note of the amount of opponents that have fallen through in his more than a year out of action.
“I’m feeling good,” he told Paul Felder in a brief interview. “Thank you everyone for coming, thank Da’Mon for taking the fight on short notice, there’s a lot of guys in the division that’s hiding. Quit being chumps and take real fights, man.
“I was just looking for an opening, that’s all I was looking for. My coaches have done a good job preparing me for this, any other fight in the division as well so hats off the them and all of my training partners back home.
“I want anybody, it don’t matter. I tell Jason [House, his manager] all the time ‘man, just sign the contract, don’t even wait’. I don’t want to even give them a chance to say no, just sign the contract so anybody, anybody.”
