Drew Dober had been expected to face Ricky Glenn at UFC Vegas 50. But with apologies to Glenn, who was forced out of the bout, the addition of Terrance McKinney made the fight a tad more interesting.
McKinney entered the fight with a whole boatload of hype behind him, having finished his last five bouts inside of a round. Individually, and cumulatively, that is.
Dober was looking to get back in the win column Saturday, after dropping fights to Islam Makhachev and Brad Riddell.
McKinney had other ideas. He game out guns blazing, and pretty much landed everything he threw. He dropped Dober, battered him with lefts and rights, and it looked awfully close to being ended right there. Somehow Dober survived, got back to his feet, and ate a flying knee that staggered him again. More fireworks followed from McKinney, who was hunting for another first round finish. McKinney’s punches may have looked wild, but they were impressively accurate as well — though unable to put Dober away, he opted to change things up and landed a takedown.
The only thing keeping Drew Dober in the fight to the midway mark of the opening round was his chin, heart, and instinct. He managed to get out from under McKinney, only to eat a head kick on the way up. McKinney fanned on a spinning back kick a bit later, and appeared to have slowed. Dober sensed his opening, and despite having been battered through most of the fight, managed to land a knee to the body. McKinney went down, Dober moved in with the ground n’ pound, and the ref had soon seen enough.
DOBER FLIPS THE SCRIPT 💥@DrewDober gets McKinney out of there in Round 1! #UFCVegas50 pic.twitter.com/jEcPvwxLX7
— UFC Canada (@UFC_CA) March 13, 2022
Round of the Year candidate? It’s hard to call these things the night of, but Dober vs. McKinney exceeded expectations that were already lofty.
Official Result: Drew Dober def. Terrance McKinney by TKO, Round 1, 3:17
