Quillan Salkilld scored one of the most violent knockouts of the year at UFC 321 last weekend, but the victory came at a significant cost.
A highly-anticipated UFC 321 card took place at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, UAE last Saturday and featured two title bouts at the top of the bill. The co-main event saw Mackenzie Dern claim the vacant strawweight belt when she earned her second victory over Virna Jandiroba, but the main event ended in disappointment thanks to a first-round eye poke from Ciryl Gane that left UFC Heavyweight Champion Tom Aspinall unable to continue.
UFC 321 only featured a total of three finishes between the main card and prelims, one of which was an incredible head kick knockout from Salkilld that saw the Australian apparently break his foot on Nasrat Haqparast’s head.
Speaking with Ariel Helwani the week after his viral win, Salkilld revealed that he’ll likely be sidelined for an extended period after injuring his foot during the fight’s finishing sequence.
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“I think I broke it, to be honest with you. It’s busted up right now, I’m limping. I’m in a moon boot,” Salkilld explained. “I’ve never hit anybody that hard, ever before…That was the first one I threw up high, caught him – obviously off guard – he guarded for a body kick, and I threw with everything that I could. And I ended up breaking my foot on his head.”
Quillan Salkilld after knocking out Nasrat Haqparast at UFC 321. / (Zuffa LLC)
Salkilld extended an undefeated start to his UFC career with the win and also earned a “Performance of the Night” bonus in the process. The 25-year-old also netted an extra $50K for his promotional debut earlier this year at UFC 321, where Salkilld knocked out Anshul Jubli in just 19 seconds.
The lightweight bout between Salkilld and Haqparast was given some extra spotlight as the featured prelim for UFC 321 with both men coming into the night on win streaks, and the event’s main card got off to a strong start when Azamat Murzakanov added to his undefeated record with a first-round knockout of Aleksandar Rakic.
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Salkilld and Murzakanov ended up scoring the final finishes (and only knockouts) of the night, as the next three bouts on the UFC 321 main card all went the distance before the main event between Aspinall and Gane came to a premature end.
The UFC 321 main event between Tom Aspinall and Ciryl Gane ended early due to an eye poke. / (Zuffa LLC)
The UFC 321 prelims also kicked off with four-straight decisions before the heavyweight bout between Valter Walker and Louie Sutherland, which saw Walker extend his incredible streak of heel hook victories to four when he forced a tap from the debuting Sutherland a little over a minute into the fight.
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