Francesco Nuzzi TKOs Xiao Long in 60 Seconds in UFC Debut
Francesco Nuzzi needed one minute to win his UFC debut. The Italian bantamweight stopped China’s Xiao Long by TKO at 1:00 of the first round on the UFC Fight Night: Nurmagomedov vs. Song prelims in Shanghai.
The finish came at the Oriental Sports Center, with Herb Dean waving it off after Nuzzi dropped Xiao and poured on left hands. Nuzzi improved to 12-2 with two no contests and 1-0 in the UFC. Xiao fell to 27-12.
Xiao came out throwing. He landed a flying knee to the chest in the opening seconds, and Nuzzi sat down, then bounced back up unhurt.
An eye poke from Nuzzi briefly paused the action. When Dean restarted them, Nuzzi answered a low kick with an overhand left, then met Xiao’s next step forward with a flurry that put him on a knee.
Dean had seen enough. Xiao was still wobbly after the stoppage and nearly drifted toward the cage fence as the home crowd tried to process a 60-second loss.
The numbers were one-sided in a short window. Nuzzi landed 12 of 21 total strikes and 11 of 20 significant shots, scored the fight’s only knockdown, and never needed a takedown.
Xiao went 4 of 7 on significant strikes. Neither man attempted a takedown or a submission.
That is a brutal night for a veteran who was supposed to have the edge. Xiao, 28, is 5-foot-8 with a 70-inch reach, trains at the UFC Performance Institute in Shanghai, and entered as the betting favorite in his own building.
His last two UFC fights had already gone the wrong way. He lost a unanimous decision to SuYoung You in Shanghai last August, then dropped a 28-27 sweep to former champion Cody Garbrandt at UFC 326 in March after two point deductions in the third round for low blows.
His only UFC knockout win remains a third-round finish of Quang Le in November 2024. Saturday made it three straight losses, and the first of those three to end inside the distance.
Nuzzi, 30, arrived from Altamura as a Cage Warriors and PFL Europe veteran fighting out of Aurora MMA. Nicknamed “Berserker,” he is a black belt in kickboxing with a brown belt in jiu-jitsu and a habit of ending nights early.
Eight of his wins had already come in the first round before this one. He had been past the first round only four times in his professional career, and both of his losses came by submission, not on the feet.
His last appearance, at Cage Warriors 204 in Rome in April, was a no contest after an accidental groin strike on Manoel Costa. Another no contest, from an accidental eye poke in PFL in 2022, sits on the same record.
None of that showed up as rust. Nuzzi walked into a hostile building, ate a flying knee, got an early warning for an eye poke, and still finished a 38-fight veteran in 60 seconds.
A debut TKO does not put him in the bantamweight rankings. It does give the UFC a 135-pounder who can end a fight before the first commercial break.
Xiao is in a harder place. He has the experience, the home support, and a sanda-to-MMA résumé packed with nine submissions and 27 wins, and he has now been stopped in the first round by a man making his UFC debut.
The size and reach advantage never became a factor. Once Nuzzi’s hands started landing, the fight was over before Xiao could wrestle or grind.
UFC Fight Night: Nurmagomedov vs. Song continues in Shanghai, with Umar Nurmagomedov vs. Song Yadong still ahead in the main event. Nuzzi leaves China 1-0 in the Octagon, and Xiao leaves with a three-fight slide that will be difficult to ignore.