Before being decimated by then-future UFC champion Khamzat Chimaev, this fighter enjoyed a dominant outing of his own.
On this day, September 28, in 2019, the Octagon was in Denmark for a UFC Fight Night event at Copenhagen’s Royal Arena.
All eyes were on the middleweight division for the main event, which saw Jared Cannonier knock out Jack Hermansson. That was one of three bouts to take place at 185 pounds, with another featuring Phillips topping the prelims.
Phillips’ Octagon career is perhaps best remembered for his penultimate fight, which marked the brutally dominant UFC debut of Chimaev. But he was no stranger to being on the other end of a similar result.
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John Phillips ran through Alen Amedovski at UFC Copenhagen before one-sided Khamzat Chimaev beatdown
Phillips was one of the two victims who contributed to Chimaev’s record-breaking two UFC wins in 10 days. The result at UFC Fight Island 1 prevented ‘The Welsh Wrecking Machine’ from securing his first winning streak.
The Briton’s Octagon tenure began with three straight losses before a trip to Copenhagen in 2019 added Phillips to the history books.
The 40-year-old shared the Octagon with Alen Amedovski, a former Bellator standout who was 8-1 and had never been finished at the time.
That changed in rapid fashion, with Phillips blasting Amedovski during a wild firefight seconds into their showdown on Danish soil.
Moments after the referee started the fight, the pair threw down in crazy fashion. It seemed like whoever connected cleanly first would secure the knockout, and it was ultimately Phillips who sent his foe crashing down twice en route to a 17-second finish.
The result marked the third fastest knockout in UFC middleweight history at the time and is currently fourth on the list.
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John Phillips won his BKFC debut by brutally knocking out fellow UFC veteran
In addition to falling to a dominant defeat against Chimaev in his next fight, Phillips would go on to lose via decision to JunYong Park three months later.
That spelled the end of the former BAMMA champion’s career in the UFC and MMA, but not his time in combat sports as a whole.
Phillips returned to competition this past April in a clash of former UFC veterans in BKFC, a promotion co-owned by Conor McGregor.
The Welshman’s first taste of bare-knuckle boxing was a success, as he viciously knocked out Fabio Maldonado 29 seconds into round two.