Rising featherweight star Sodiq Yusuff wants you to know his name. The young Nigerian entered UFC 241 with a four-fight win streak, but he's still flown relatively under the radar. Saturday night was his chance to showcase his skill to the world during the pay-per-view match, and he couldn't have put on a better show.
Yusuff scored a first-round knockout against Gabriel Benitez on Saturday night, putting the entire featherweight division on notice. Yusuff came out swinging hard, quickly opening up a cut above the eye of Benitez. But as the round went on, Benitez seemed to fight his groove and even scored a flash knockdown just past the midway point.
Yusuff recovered nicely though and with under a minute left int he round, he threw a counter right hand that dropped Benitez. Yusuff followed that with multiple hammer fists before referee Herb Dean jumped in and stopped it at 4:14 of round one.
Yusuff's aggressive approach was about more than winning. came out aggressive in hopes of scoring a knockout. The youngster made it very clear that money was a big factor in his approach to the fight and he wasn't at all bashful about making his case for the Fight of the Night bonus. Besides the win and the money, Yusuff also wanted fans - and his fellow featherweight contenders - to remember his name.
With the win, Sodiq Yusuff is now 10-1, while Gabriel Benitez falls to 21-8.