Damian Pinas Knocks Out Andrey Pulyaev in 75 Seconds at UFC 332
Damian Pinas needed one uppercut to end Andrey Pulyaev at 1:15 of the first round on Saturday at UFC 332. The 24-year-old middleweight is now 3-0 in the UFC, and every one of those wins has come by first-round knockout.
Pulyaev opened the sequence with a body kick that the Paramount+ call flagged in real time. “Nice body kick by the Russian,” the commentary said, with Pinas against the fence in black shorts and Pulyaev in blue. The reply did not last. Pinas came off the fence, threw the right, and drove the uppercut up the middle. Pulyaev dropped straight back and did not move. Referee Herb Dean was already between them.
The call caught up a beat later. “Oh my god,” one voice said as Pulyaev hit the canvas. “The body of Daniel Penas with an uppercut!” came next, the name garbled and the punch unmistakable. Pulyaev was flat on his back, eyes open, while officials knelt over him. Pinas walked off toward the opposite side of the Octagon.
Pinas is 11-1 as a professional, with four knockouts and four first-round finishes on the record. He stopped Wes Schultz in the first round at a UFC Fight Night on February 28, then stopped Cesar Almeida in the first round at UFC 329 on July 11. Saturday was the third. He entered a heavy favorite, listed around minus-650, and the fight never reached the two-minute mark. He fights out of Aruba, was born in Suriname, and carries the nickname “The Baba Yaga.”
In the post-fight interview with Joe Rogan, Pinas treated the 75-second knockout as incomplete.
“That was not my full power again, that was my warm up. I didn’t warm up yet,” he said. He then set the timeline himself. “I feel like I’m one of the best. I’m going to be the champion. That’s what I know. I think next year I’m going to be top 15. I’m here to stay and be the champion.”
Pulyaev came in at 10-5 and leaves at 10-6, 1-4 in the UFC. The Russian is 6-foot-4 and had shown he could last. He went the full three rounds with Ateba Gautier in late January. Since then the nights have ended early. He lost to Nursulton Ruziboev by technical rear-naked choke at 3:58 of the first round at UFC Baku on June 29, and Saturday was a second first-round finish in roughly three months. He has now lost three straight and four of his last five.
The body kick was the last clean moment he had. Cageside Press noted an earlier low blow that Pinas waved off, then the leg kicks and the jab, then the uppercut. None of the lead-up changed the result. A fighter who had survived 15 minutes with Gautier was unconscious inside 75 seconds against a middleweight who has not been out of the first round since he signed.
UFC 332 belonged to the vacant women’s flyweight title fight between Natalia Silva and Wang Cong later on the CBS main card. Pinas-Pulyaev sat on the prelims, at 6 p.m. ET on Paramount+. A one-punch knockout still moved. The middleweight division has a prospect on a three-fight first-round run, and he has already said he expects to be ranked next year and champion after that.
No next opponent has been named. What Saturday added is a third UFC finish that looked like the first two, only shorter. Pulyaev has the loss and a highlight he was on the wrong side of. Pinas has the quote, the record, and a division that just watched him say the punch was a warm-up.
