Punahele Soriano shined in UFC debut with crushing knockout of Oskar Piechota.
Kicking off the UFC 245 card Saturday night in Las Vegas, Dana White’s Contender Series winner Punahele Soriano was set to make his octagon debut. The Hawaiian was being given a stiff test for his first official outing with the promotion, being paired up with former Cage Warriors middleweight champion Oskar Piechota. The bout was part of the the early prelims, airing on UFC Fight Pass.
Round 1
Soriano came out in the southpaw stance while Piechota stood orthodox. After a bit of a feeling-out process, Soriano dropped Piechota with a huge left hand. He followed him with hard ground and pound. He looked to end the fight quickly. He took the back of Piechiota and looked for a choke. The Polish fighter defended well and used a standing Kimura to get back to his feet. Both fighters scrambled back in forth for positions until they were back on the feet.
Soriano continued to press the action throwing a volley of hard overhand lefts. Eventually one of the left hands connected perfectly on the jaw of Piechota sending him crashing to the canvas unconscious. The Hawaiian followed up with more shots until the referee pulled him off giving him the knockout win.
Welcome to the UFC, @Puna185! 👏
Debuts don't come much better than that! #UFC245
📺 Watch LIVE on @UFCFightPass NOW! pic.twitter.com/ykIQy15GjZ
— UFC (@ufc) December 14, 2019
Official Result: Punahele Soriano def. Oskar Piechota via 1st round TKO (3:17)
The debut win pushed the 27-year-old Soriano’s record to a perfect 7-0 after he turned professional back in 2017. The only time he was unable to finish a fight was when he defeated Jamie Pickett on the past season of the Dana White Contender Series.
Piechota’s record inside the Octagon fell to 2-3. Unfortunately, this was the third straight defeat for Piechota, who previously fell to Gerald Meerschaert and Rodolfo Vieira.
UFC 245 went down on Saturday, December 14th from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
