A pair of debuting welterweights kicked off the UFC 293 card in Sydney, Australia on Saturday, as Kevin Jousset faced off with Kiefer Crosbie.
France’s Jousset had spent the entirety of his fighting career in Australia, training at City Kickboxing alongside the likes of Israel Adesanya and Kai Kara-France among others. Which made his signing and debut at UFC 293 less of a surprise than that of Crosbie, a former Bellator MMA athlete hailing from Ireland.
Crosbie started off with a clubbing right hand early showing his power. He then landed a hook to the body to a leg kick combo. Jousset was patient and was finding a home with the low calf kick and the jab. The leg kicks were already doing damage early on having Crosbie switch stances.
Jousset struck his way into the clinch and landed a nasty elbow off the break. As Crosbie was going forward he was eating the jab over and over. Crosbie was trying to explode in with punches but wasn’t landing anything to effect Jousset. In the clinch, Crosbie attempted a hip toss. Not a good decision against a judo fighter so Jousset defended and took the back. Very quickly Jousset ended the fight with the rear-naked choke, just ahead of round’s end!
Official Result: Kevin Jousset def. Kiefer Crosbie by submission (rear-naked choke), Round 1, 4:49
