Justin Tafa needed to rebound from being starched, and did it in big way at UFC 247

HOUSTON – Justin Tafa beat Juan Adams with a first-round TKO Saturday on the main card at UFC 247 in Houston.

Take a look inside the fight with Tafa, who got back in the win column after a first-round knockout loss at UFC 243 this past October in his promotional debut.

Result: Justin Tafa def. Juan Adams via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 1:59
Updated records: Tafa (4-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC), Adams (5-3 MMA, 1-3 UFC)
Key stat: Tafa has all four of his pro wins by knockout.

Tafa on the fight’s key moment

“We’ve known Juan to like to throw long jabs and then he has a delay in his right straight, so it was something we knew I had to explore. I’ve got a lot of power in both of my hands and I knew it could at least give him a little rock, so I rocked him and he fell. I gave him a couple of hooks, let him stand up and I knew in his eyes he was gone. I just kept going to get the finish.”

Tafa on his first UFC win

“It feels good to get my first win in UFC. I got knocked out cold in front of a record attendance for a UFC event or any MMA event in my last fight. And to come back so shortly after, I wanted to prove something not only to the people, but to Polynesians, Samoans, Australians, that if you are battling with something, you just stand back up and run it back.”

To hear more from Tafa, check out the video of the full post-fight interview above.