Austin Vanderford needed to wait a very long time to lastly make his octagon debut however he made probably the most of his alternative on simply 4 days’ discover with a formidable second-round stoppage win at UFC Seattle.
The previous Bellator title contender and one-time Contender Collection winner confirmed off his world-class grappling as he repeatedly took Nikolay Veretennikov to the canvas and punished him with punches. The bottom assault paid off after Vanderford trapped Veretennikov in opposition to the cage and unloaded a barrage of unanswered pictures that compelled the referee to cease the competition at 4:13 within the second spherical.
Afterwards as Vanderford celebrated his victory along with his coaches and his spouse Paige VanZant, Veretennikov simply got here from out of nowhere and shoved him as safety rushed to intervene. The UFC hardly ever takes kindly to post-fight interactions like that one so it’s fully doable that Veretennikov could have punched his ticket to a pink slip after reacting so poorly to his loss.
As for Vanderford, he didn’t let the post-fight shove get to him as he was all smiles whereas having fun with the fruits of his labor after shifting to 1-0 within the UFC.
“It sounds wonderful, particularly contemplating I took this battle on 4 days’ discover,” Vanderford stated. “Simply stayed prepared. I’m right here, I’m prepared. I’m joyful, I might have preferred to make the battle slightly extra thrilling. 4 days’ discover, I stepped up, I used to be prepared and we got here in and acquired the job carried out.”
After Bellator was purchased out by the PFL in late 2023, Vanderford secured his launch with hopes that he might finally earn his strategy to the UFC, which had at all times been his plan. Sadly the UFC handed on signing him after a win on the Contender Collection so Vanderford’s journey took slightly longer than anticipated.
The top consequence nonetheless paid off with Vanderford getting the stoppage win as he now appears to be like to make waves within the UFC welterweight division.
