Nick Galanti Lands 35-Second Knockout to Earn UFC Deal on Contender Series
Nick Galanti walked into the Meta APEX on Tuesday still hunting a UFC contract and left with one after a 35-second knockout. The CFFC middleweight champion needed one right hand to put Carlos Petruzzella away in the Contender Series Week 3 opener, then finished the job on the mat before the first minute was gone.
The middleweight fight opened Season 10, Week 3, also listed as DWCS 89, on Aug. 25 in Las Vegas. Galanti (8-1) came in as a regional champion on a five-fight winning streak. Petruzzella (15-2), a Samurai Fight House titleholder from Argentina, had finished all 15 of his wins.
Galanti tried to wrestle first. Petruzzella stuffed the takedown in the clinch, and the fight stayed on the fence for a few seconds.
Galanti broke off, threw the right hook, and Petruzzella dropped. Follow-up punches on the ground ended it at 0:35 of Round 1, with referee Keith Peterson stepping in while Petruzzella was out.
Dana White did not wait long to make the signing official. He praised the start of the card as much as the finish itself.
“Nick, you couldn’t possibly open a show better than you did,” White said. “And you couldn’t perform any better on this show than you did. Congratulations, you’re in the UFC.”
Galanti had already made his pitch in the cage. Speaking with Laura Sanko before White’s decision was announced, he kept the ask simple.
“It would be awesome (to get signed),” Galanti said. “We’re headed in the right direction.”
The knockout also undercut the scouting report that followed him into Las Vegas. Galanti is known as a wrestler, and he spent camp working on his striking with former UFC fighter Karl Roberson.
“Everyone says I’m just a grappler, but I have been working with my guy Karl Roberson, UFC vet, Glory vet; he had one of the fastest knockouts,” Galanti said. “The whole time I was calling that right hook. I love that right hook in open stances. I was hoping for a head-kick knockout, but I think it got hooked up.”
Roberson got his own UFC deal with a 15-second knockout of Ryan Spann in the first Contender Series season in 2017. Galanti’s teammate Luke Fernandez later posted a 15-second finish on the show last season.
Tuesday was not that fast, and it was still the kind of start White rewards. Four of the five fights ended in finishes, and every winner left with a contract.
Alex Apodaca, Guilherme Uriel, Sean Clancy Jr., and Ronald Humphrey joined Galanti on the roster. Apodaca closed the night by beating massive favorite Bella Mir in the biggest betting upset in series history.
Galanti, 28, now moves from CFFC into the UFC after winning that regional belt by decision over Austin Clayton. The Contender Series appearance was his chance to show a finishing threat that is not tied only to wrestling.
Petruzzella did not get a contract. A 15-1 finisher on paper never made it out of the opening exchange in Las Vegas.
No UFC debut has been announced for Galanti. He is one of 15 fighters signed through the first three weeks of Season 10, with the series continuing weekly at the APEX through mid-October.