Maurice Greene moved to 3-0 in the UFC on Saturday, as he used crisp combinations and devastating shots to stop Junior Albini inside the first round at UFC Minneapolis.
Maurice Greene has one of the more interesting nicknames in combat sports. That being “The Crochet Boss.” While his knitting skills are impeccable, he’s definitely at home in the cage. Greene is 7-2 in mixed martial arts and an undefeated 2-0 in the Octagon heading into UFC Minneapolis. Of the TUF 28 veteran’s seven wins, five have come via stoppage, including a triangle choke in his promotional debut.
Junior Albini came into the UFC at 13-2 and made a big statement in his debut with a first-round knockout against Timothy Johnson. However, he’s winless in three fights since then, falling to Andrei Arlovski, Aleksei Oleinik, and Jairzinho Rozenstruik. “Baby” has 12 stoppages in his 19-fight career, half by knockout and half by submission.
Round 1
The two heavyweights touched gloves and traded leg kicks in the center of the octagon. Albini comes in seemingly unphased by the dimensions in which his adversary had the advantage in, darting inside the distance to make up for the lack in reach and look for openings. Greene barely missed with a front kick and Albini swarmed him immediately, eventually putting Greene up against the fence.
The Brazilian dug in both underhooks and subsequenty landed a left hand on the break, before they reset back to the center. With three minutes to go in the round Greene put a nice combo together before getting cracked with a left hand by Albini on the comeback. A left jab came out of nowhere for Greene, and it hurt Albini badly. Right after that, another straight left hand flattened the Brazilian. Greene came crashing in looking for the finish, but to no avail. Momentarily, Greene looked to set up a north-south choke but he gives up on it quickly and the two get back up to their feet once again.
Greene landed another clean shot. Then, Albini gets a big punch to find the mark himself. Greene momentarily looks stunned, but was ultimately still there. He then landed another beautiful one-two combination, and Albini went down once again before follow up shots provoked referee Jason Herzog to intervene and wave it off.
Maurice Greene def. Junior Albini by TKO (punches) at 3:38 in Round 1
Like a BOSS!
Tune in now on @ESPN! @TheCrochetBoss #UFCMinneapolis pic.twitter.com/bixk4C3yr7
— UFC (@ufc) June 29, 2019
