Among the newcomers on Saturday’s UFC 290 card, capping off this year’s International Fight Week, was Terrence Mitchell, booked into a bantamweight match-up with South Africa’s Cameron Saaiman.
Saaiman was 2-0 to start his UFC run, while Mitchell, a veteran of The Ultimate Fighter 24 who had lost to Kai Kara-France on the show, was making his debut off three straight wins — though he had missed five years, from 2018 to earlier in 2023, before returning to action in February to win the first of two fights this year.
Mitchell started the fight aggressively shooting for a takedown. He did shoot right into a deep high elbow guillotine however. Not deterred, Mitchell showed a lot of heart escaping and getting top position. Saaiman then ended up scrambling from the bottom and won the top position back. It was a high-paced fight early on as Mitchell worked his way back to his feet.
A short while later, Saaiman got Mitchell back down and snuck onto the back. Saaiman flattened out Mitchell and after some unanswered GNP the ref stepped in! This one never left the first round.
MAKE IT 9-0 FOR @Cameron_Saaiman!!
First round finish over Terrence Mitchell at #UFC290 👊 pic.twitter.com/tQOGjozxZo
— UFC (@ufc) July 8, 2023
Saaiman, a teammate of Dricus Du Plessis, is now 3-0 under the UFC banner, and 9-0 as a professional — not a bad start to the bantamweight’s career to say the least.
Official Result: Cameron Saaiman def. Terrence Mitchell by TKO, Round 1, 3:10
