UFC: China’s Heili Alateng scores 47-second TKO in show opener as Wu Yanan suffers controversial loss
- Chinese bantamweight picks up quick win in first bout of UFC Vegas 51 broadcast on Saturday night
- Compatriot Wu loses unanimous decision to Mayra Bueno Silva as JacksonWink gym blasts ‘terrible’ call
Chinese bantamweight Heili Alateng picked up one of the most impressive victories of his career at UFC Vegas 51, stopping American Kevin Croom in just 47 seconds.
The event went down inside the UFC’s Apex facility in Las Vegas on Saturday night, and Heili and Croom were tasked with kicking things off.
The Chinese fighter did so in style.
Early in the first round, he clubbed his American foe with a sizzling right hook. Once he had Croom hurt, he did not relent, sending his foe crashing, face-down onto the canvas with a vicious volley of strikes.
Referee Chris Tognoni had no choice but to intervene and spare the American from further punishment.
It was an important victory for the 30-year-old Heili (15-8-2), who was winless in his last two appearances heading into the event.
“At first, I was just taking a measure of my opponent and then I just heard my coach yell to me to just do a technique that we had worked on, and I did it and then the fight was over,” Heili said in a post-fight media interview backstage.
