When Robelis Despaigne entered the UFC in early 2024, many fans and pundits expected the 6ft 7in heavyweight to race his way into the Top 10 – and potentially even the Top 5.
However, the enormous Cuban was sadly released by the promotion after two rather disappointing performances against Waldo Cortes-Acosta and Austen Lane; luckily, he’s found a new home in Karate Combat.
Robelis Despaigne scores insane knockout in first fight since UFC exit
Just two months after exiting the UFC, Robelis Despaigne found himself competing on the main card of Karate Combat 51, which went down late last night from the Magic City of Miami, Florida.
It certainly didn’t take long for the Cuban to get back to his winning (or insane stoppage) ways, beating out the clock with a viral stoppage that arrived just four seconds into the opening round.
Despaigne opened his fight against Polish heavyweight Dominik Jedrzejczyk with a right kick to the body and as Jedrzejczyk looked to counter with a straight, the monstrous Cuban threw a perfect right hook.
The shot landed right on the ear and instantly crumpled Jedrzejczyk in what’s now been officially clocked as the fastest knockout in Karate Combat history… Incredibly, that’s not even the fastest knockout of Despaigne’s career!
Robelis Despaigne’s top five MMA knockouts are truly terrifying
With a professional MMA record of 5-2, Robelis Despaigne’s resume might not look great from the outside – that is until you look at the timings for those stoppage wins, which include 18-second, 12-second, four-second, and three-second knockouts.
Coming in as our number five ranked finish is Despaigne’s stoppage win over Travis Gregoire in June 2023, which arrived just 12 seconds after the opening bell thanks to some truly vicious hammer fists.
Our fourth-ranked KO is actually from the Cuban’s UFC debut – an 18-second finish at UFC 299 over Josh Parisian, with Despaigne landing a stunning counter shot as he backtracked across the octagon.
In third place, it’s his professional MMA debut, which ironically took Despaigne the longest to score at 4 minutes and 54 seconds of the very first round, albeit as devastating as the rest.
The silver medal is awarded to his headkick KO over Stevie Payne in September 2023, which is currently Despaigne’s fastest career knockout, clocking in at just three seconds.
And in our humble opinion, Despaigne’s best knockout of his career (so far), is his beautiful left/right hook-combination KO over Miles Banks – the faceplant finish that earned him a UFC contract.
Given how Despaigne is already 36 years old, we don’t expect to see him again in the UFC octagon, but we certainly won’t say no to watching him dish out the Des-pain over in Karate Combat.