Nigerian-born Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) lightweight fighter, Bolaji Oki suffered the first knock-out of his career in a shock defeat by rookie sensation, Manoel Sousa at Fight Night 269, Sports247 reports.
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Bolaji appeared to be the clear favourite heading into the bout on Saturday night at Meta APEX in Las Vegas, USA; as he flaunted a scorecard that read 10-4 MMA, 2-3 UFC, while Sousa entered with 14-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC.
They both exchanged heavy shots, going for the finish for more than 14 minutes but, with the final seconds ticking down, Sousa unloaded a massive punch that floored Bolaji and put him out cold at the 4:03 mark of Round 3.
It became a major setback for the Nigerian-born DWCS grad, who claimed a unanimous decision victory over Michael Aswell last time out to advance to 10-2 for his career, but has now suffered his third defeat overall.
Sports247 gathered further that Oki, nicknamed ‘The Zulu Warrior,’ fights under the flag of Belgium and trains at Davinci Gym in Evere, from where he has been fighting in MMA’s lightweight category up to 70 kilograms since 2018.
The 27-year-old Bolaji first participated in Dana White’s UFC Contender Series in Las Vegas, USA on August 29, 2023 and defeated Dylan Salvador of France in an MMA fight against the former Muay Thai and kickboxing world champion.
That victory earned Bolaji a UFC contract in the UFC competition, which made him become the fourth Belgian fighter to achieve that feat after Tarec Saffiedine, Cindy Dandois and Gaetano Pirrello.
“It’s been a wonderful experience. There has been ups and downs — I won my first UFC fight, I lost the second one, so I had the down, but then I went back up with the victory. I’m still learning in the sport, being comfortable in the UFC.
“I had to be comfortable in the UFC because you have more pressure; now you’re in the big leagues, there is more pressure on you, you wanna win. I had to have those fights to get more comfortable,” Bolaji reflected.
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