Cape Verde hasn’t had too many top-level fighters down the years, but they may have one on their hands in Yorgan De Castro, who announced his arrival in the UFC with a crushing one-punch knockout on his octagon debut.
De Castro took on fellow debutant Justin Tafa, who arrived in the UFC with a fearsome reputation as a knockout artist. And while the Kiwi landed the first big punch of the night in the opening seconds to briefly stun De Castro, the man known as ‘The Mad Titan’ took the shot well before composing himself and eventually unleashing some stunning power of his own.
De Castro’s nickname comes from the Marvel supervillain Thanos, and the 31-year-old rose to the occasion inside Marvel Stadium as he connected with a perfectly-timed right hand landed clean on Tafa’s chin, sending him crashing to the canvas.
De Castro had earned his spot in the UFC after scoring a leg-kick KO in Dana White’s Contender Series earlier this summer. And when Holly Holm’s fight with Raquel Pennington was scrapped from the card due to injury, De Castro’s fight with Tafa was promoted to the main card, where it opened the pay per view in front of more than 50,000 fans in Melbourne.
And De Castro was overcome with emotion after scoring the biggest, and most important, win of his mixed martial arts career.
“I was expecting three rounds of war,” said De Castro after the fight.
“But he came hard at me with his chin open. I knew I just had to time him. I have power, man. If I land, they’re going down.”
The Cape Verdian said the experience of his UFC debut was an emotional one, but admitted he can’t wait to get back into the octagon again, preferably before the end of the year.
“When I was walking to the octagon, I just wanted to cry and thank God at the same time,” he said.
“Not many people get to live their dreams. I'm living mine right now.
“I want to fight again in December. I want to fight again soon. Whenever, against whoever – I want to fight.”
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