A battle with relevance to the rankings at light-heavyweight took place as the featured bout of UFC Nashville with fifteenth-ranked Dustin Jacoby stopping the surging Nigerian, Kennedy Nzechukwu, in the first round.
Jacoby, a former GLORY kickboxer who competed against the likes of Alex Pereira, lost his last two bouts in the UFC after starting his current run with the promotion with a 6-0-1 record. Meanwhile Nzechukwu won his last three fights, all by finish, going into this fight and has shown new wrestling and grappling abilities that he did not have earlier in his career. Only one man would be in the rankings after this one; the question was, would Jacoby be able to defend his spot or would Nzechukwu break into the top-15 for the first time?
Nzechukwu came out southpaw and pressed forward behind his straight left hand. His heavy pace and pressure pushed Jacoby back to the fence, smothering some of the kickboxer’s longer range tools. He was able to touch Kennedy’s face with fast punches but they did not have much on them until one big counter right hand, thrown while getting hit clean, caught Nzechukwu suddenly, dropping Kennedy to the mat. The Nigerian turned to his side and covered up, enabling Dustin Jacoby to drop hammerfists until the referee stepped in.
Official Result: Dustin Jacoby def. Kennedy Nzechukwu by TKO (punches) Round 1, 1:22
