Melquizael Costa made quite a statement becoming the first person to ever finish Dan Ige following a spectacular spinning back kick knockout at UFC Houston on Saturday.
From the start, Costa was blasting away at Ige with his kicking game, keeping the veteran featherweight at a distance and not allowing him to work his way inside. With time ticking away in the opening round, Ige tried to rush forward but he ducked at the exact wrong moment as Costa uncorked a spinning back kick that landed flush.
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As soon as Costa’s heel connected, Ige fell to the ground holding his eye and a few more punches landed as the refeee jumped in to stop the fight with the end coming at 4:56 in the opening round.
“I told everybody this week. I just fought a legend,” Costa said after securing his sixth win in a row. “No one in this organization was able to stop him … and I was able to do that. There’s a guy where that you all love and I love too but I want to say something … Diego Lopes let’s go at it.”
When the fight started, Ige was able to get an early takedown but he couldn’t maintain position on Costa, who was quick to work back to his feet. From there, Costa was unleashing a variety of kicks including one to the head that Ige blocked but it still shook him briefly from the sheer force.
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Costa continued to mix together his striking combinations and Ige just couldn’t get through to deliver any of his own shots.
That’s when Costa pulled off the stunning spinning back kick with his heel digging into Ige’s eye and sending him crashing to the canvas. Costa threw a few more shots but the referee was quick to stop the action before any more damage was done.
Ige got back to his feet rather quickly but a moment later his eye had doubled in size from all of the swelling.
With the win, Costa likely earns a spot in the UFC rankings and he’s looking to take a big step forward after calling out Lopes, who just recently came up short in his second attempt at becoming featherweight champion.