Max Griffin made the most of the UFC on ESPN 21 co-main event spot he slid into earlier in the day.
Griffin (17-8 MMA, 5-6 UFC) scored a brutal first-round knockout of Song Kenan (15-5 MMA, 4-2 UFC) in Saturday’s co-headliner at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, which gave him back-to-back wins in the welterweight division.
After the pair felt each other out and traded strikes in the first few minutes, Griffin landed a huge right hand that backed Kenan up toward the fence. He followed with another shot that put him down, then one more on the grounded foe to spell the knockout at the 2:20 mark of Round 1.
Check out the replay of the finish below (via Twitter):
𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐍.@MaxPainGriffin ENDS IT in round one
[ #UFCVegas22 on @ESPN & #ESPNPlus ] pic.twitter.com/UiGRjtBuBF
— UFC (@ufc) March 21, 2021
Griffin came into the fight with Kenan highly motivated after becoming a father for the first time in recent weeks. His fight got boosted to the co-main event when Gregor Gillespie vs. Brad Riddell was pulled from the card earlier in the day due to COVID-19 protocols.
His performance showed his level of focus, and he was thrilled with his body of work in a big spot.
“I got the call this morning to be moved to the co-main event,” Griffin said in his post-fight interview with Paul Felder. “I started crying. I started showing my emotions. The world is going to see that I’m a star. This is on ESPN.”
UFC on ESPN 21 video: Max Griffin melts Song Kenan with vicious KO, declares ‘I’m a star’
