Stepping up on short notice to make his debut at UFC Vegas 72 on Saturday was Marcus McGhee, booked into a scheduled 140lb catchweight with Journey Newson.
The catchweight affair was necessitated when Brian Kelleher was forced off the card last minute; McGhee entered having most recently fought for LFA in January.
The debutant came out the blocks the faster of the two, wanting to put on forward pressure. A few high kicks from McGhee had Newson keeping his guard high and on his toes. McGhee attempted a jumping knee just over a minute in, but Newson was wise to it and caught it, shrugging off the danger. Again another jumping attack from McGhee saw him with a jumping switch teep to the body, landing directly up the middle of Newson’s mid right.
McGhee began feeling himself around three minutes into the fight, landing with some dangerous power punches to the dome of Newson. It took just over three-and-a-half minutes for Newson to attempt a level change and after some cage pressure he managed to run the pipe on a single leg, but McGhee’s scramble allowed for him to get straight back up. Throughout round one the forward pressure of McGhee seemed to cause Journey Newson issues, and seemingly won McGhee his first round in a UFC fight.
To begin round two, Newson decided to be the one to try and land the first shot and put on the forward pressure, but it was nullified almost straightaway as McGhee did a good job reading Newson’s attempts. Just over a minute and a half of the second round, McGhee stuffed a Newson takedown and on their return to the feet, McGhee landed a quick left hand dropping Newson. The debutant jumped on the downed Newson quickly, securing the dominant back control and subsequently locking in a rear-naked-choke, tapping out Newson.
ON ONLY THREE. DAYS. NOTICE. 😤 #UFCVegas72 pic.twitter.com/L9NUHNONeT
— UFC (@ufc) April 29, 2023
Official result: Marcus McGhee def. Journey Newson by submission (rear-naked-choke), Round 2, 2:03
