UFC 255: Hong Kong’s Sasha Palatnikov TKOs Louis Cosce on dream debut in fight of the night
- First Hong Kong fighter in the UFC cashes in as a $5 underdog with Vegas bookies – and with fight of the night bonus after third-round finish
- Palatnikov reveals he battled Covid-19 at end of October – ‘there were a couple of seconds I thought, I don’t know if I can do this’
What a night of firsts for Sasha Palatnikov.
The first fighter to represent Hong Kong in the UFC, his first win in the promotion, and his first US$50,000 performance bonus after a third-round TKO of Louis Cosce in the fight of the night right off the bat on the UFC 255 prelims.
Palatnikov (6-2) also handed Dana White’s Contender Series star Cosce (7-1) – nicknamed “The Monster” – his first defeat on Saturday night at the UFC Apex in a dream debut, after taking the welterweight fight on two weeks’ notice against a fellow UFC newcomer.
Adding to the drama, the 31-year-old said he had Covid-19 at the end of October and was in quarantine for two weeks, but ran up a mountain in Nevada to sort himself out.
“The day after I got out of quarantine, that’s when the UFC called, so it was a bit of a toss up, but I said if I get this opportunity, I have to take it,” Palatnikov said in his post-fight interview with media backstage.