Anthony Wint Wins UFC Debut by Submission 11 Days After DWCS
Anthony Wint submitted Terrance Chatman in the first round of his UFC debut, 11 days after earning a contract on Dana White’s Contender Series. The undefeated heavyweight finished Chatman with an arm-triangle choke at 4:29 of Round 1 on the UFC Sacramento main card.
The official result at UFC Fight Night: Hernandez vs. Rodrigues was a technical submission. Chatman went to sleep under the choke at Golden 1 Center, and referee Herb Dean waved it off.
Wint improved to 8-0 overall and 1-0 in the UFC. Chatman, also making his promotional debut, fell to 5-2.
The turnaround is the story as much as the finish. On Aug. 11, Wint stopped Matt Adams in 34 seconds on Week 1 of Contender Series Season 10, and Dana White awarded him a contract on the spot.
Eleven days later he was opening a UFC main card. Few fighters go from the development show to a finished Octagon debut that fast.
Wint, a 30-year-old former New York Jets linebacker from Homestead, Florida, also spent time in the CFL before the MMA run. He walked in as a massive favorite, with some books listing him in the -950 to -1050 range.
Chatman, nicknamed “The Answer,” came from Houston with a 5-1 record and a first-round finish of Juan Torres under the Fury FC banner in July. He also had a sizable weight advantage, weighing 266 pounds to Wint’s 231.
The size showed up early. Chatman stuffed Wint’s first takedown and threatened a kimura when the fight finally hit the mat.
Wint still got him down with a single-leg, landed in half guard, and moved to side control. Dean warned him for punches to the back of the head before the finish presented itself.
In the last minute, Wint locked the arm-triangle, cleared the legs, and squeezed from a knee-on-belly position. Chatman went out at 4:29, turning the debut into a technical submission rather than a tap.
It was not the strike-heavy ending some expected after the 34-second Contender Series knockout. Wint said as much when Michael Bisping met him in the cage.
“It wasn’t the game plan, but we want it done,” Wint said. “Y’all in trouble. Boy, you’re all in trouble.”
The Anthony Wint submission keeps him unbeaten and gives the UFC a heavyweight who can wrestle as well as hit. UFC.com noted he is the second heavyweight with NFL ties in as many years to come off Contender Series and show immediate promise.
He is still unranked in a division headed by champion Tom Aspinall. One debut win does not rewrite the title picture, but two finishes in 11 days puts him on the short list of heavyweights the office will try to keep busy.
Wint already asked for the next one. He told Bisping he will be ready again soon and that the version who shows up next will not be the same.
For now, the résumé is simple: 8-0, a Contender Series contract, and a first-round choke in his UFC debut.