Robelis Despaigne lived up to the hype in his octagon debut as the 2012 Olympic bronze medalist in taekwondo needed just 18 seconds to dust off Josh Parisian at UFC 299.
The 35-year-old heavyweight, whose three previous fights before competing in the UFC lasted a combined 19 seconds, didn’t disappoint with his latest performance in front of a raucous Miami crowd. As soon as the fight started, Despaigne came out guns blazing, launching a head kick at Parisian and immediately engaging in a fire fight.
ROBELIS DESPAIGNE IS A BAD MANNNNNNNNN #UFC299 pic.twitter.com/iOAeS276VV
— Spinnin Backfist (@SpinninBackfist) March 10, 2024
Parisian’s mistake was taking the bait after Despaigne fell to the ground momentarily after missing his head kick and from there the heavyweights were just throwing bombs at each other. Unfortunately for Parisian, it was Despaigne who had far more fire power as he stepped backwards and unleashed a huge right hand that landed clean on the jaw.
As soon as the punch landed, Parisian’s head snapped around and he crumbled to the canvas with Despaigne landing a few more shots on the ground as the referee rushed into stop the contest. The official time was just 18 seconds into the first round with Despaigne moving to 5-0 in his career with the win.
“I’ve had this dream since 2019,” Despaigne said afterwards. “Thanks to god, I’m here realizing my dream, fighting in the UFC, the biggest event in the world.”
While Despaigne is getting a late start to his fighting career, it appears he’s a prospect definitely worth watching now that he’s in the UFC. The heavyweight division isn’t incredibly deep so it might not take long for Despaigne to start facing tougher competition as he looks to build on a jaw-dropping resume through the first five fights of his career.