Liu Ce just had a UFC debut to remember.
On Saturday, Liu made his first octagon appearance, facing Levi Rodrigues Jr. on the main card of UFC Shanghai. The former K-1 kickboxing champion only had four MMA fights to his name, but was nevertheless a favorite over the Contender Series product, and he showed why, face-planting Rodrigues in the first round after an insane back-and-forth war.
Check out Liu’s incredible debut knockout below.
Liu and Rodrigues wasted no time once the bell rang, getting right down to throwing haymakers at each other. Rodrigues even impressed against the kickboxing champion early, buzzing Liu with power shots, but midway through the round, Liu dropped Rodrigues with a crisp punch to the temple that signaled the beginning of the end.
Rodrigues got up and swung for all he was worth, cracking Liu a couple of times in the process, but his legs were still shaky, and eventually Liu landed a missile of a right hand that spun Rodrigues face-first to the mat.
