24-year-old Chinese prospect Taiyilake Nueraji announced himself to the UFC fans at UFC Shanghai, but it didn’t come without controversy.
Coming into UFC Shanghai this Saturday, Conor McGregor‘s teammate Kiefer Crosbie knew that he needed a win otherwise his time in the UFC could come to an end, after suffering back-to-back losses.
The 35-year-old took on 24-year-old debutant, Taiyilake Nueraji, who was the youngest fighter on the entire card, looking to make his mark in the premier promotion.
Although ‘Super Saiyan’ went on to utterly dominate Crosbie, it came with some controversy in the first round.
Crosbie suffers illegal knee moments before brutal KO
Early in the fight, Nueraji showcased the big size advantage that he held over the Irishman, landing an immediate kick before finding himself on top of Crosbie on the ground.
The Chinese fighter looked to rain down some heavy ground-and-pound while Crosbie attempted to wriggle his way out of the position, but Nueraji maintained his position well before transitioning to full mount.
Again, the 24-year-old prospect landed some huge elbows on Crosbie as the referee took a closer look at the action. Not long after, ‘BDK’ made it to his knee where he looked to stand back up to his feet.
Nueraji then blasted him with a huge illegal knee which immediately resulted in the fight being halted by Marc Goddard.
At that point, it seemed unlikely that Crosbie would continue the fight as his nose poured with blood, but he alerted Goddard that he wanted to continue.
Goddard pulled Nueraji to the center of the Octagon and deducted him two points, which could’ve been huge if the fight made it out of the first round.
Despite that, not long after the fight was restarted, Nueraji scored another takedown and once again rained down brutal elbow ground-and-pound, and Goddard stepped in to save Crosbie from any more unnecessary damage.
Will Kiefer Crosbie be cut from the UFC?
With this now being Crosbie’s third loss under the UFC banner since signing for the promotion in 2023, his time in the promotion will surely be under jeopardy.
And with the Irishman now at 35 years old, time is not on his side with the promotion opting with signing younger prospects.