Kody Steele Scores Thunderous Round 1 Knockout at UFC 333
Kody Steele earned the first finish of UFC 333 with a thunderous Round 1 knockout of Noah Gugnon on Saturday at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. The lightweight stopped his opponent at 3:54 of the opening frame via punches, turning an early-prelim matchup into the night’s first highlight.
Steele entered the bout with an 8-1 professional record and a 1-1 mark inside the UFC. Gugnon came in at 10-2 overall and undefeated in his one previous Octagon appearance. The American was a slight betting favorite after a first-round submission win in May, while the Frenchman carried momentum from a quick debut stoppage in August.
The fight opened with both men testing jabs and low kicks. Steele missed on two early takedown attempts, and Gugnon pressed forward behind a hard jab and a partially blocked head kick. Steele answered with a sharp one-two and doubled up on a left hook before ducking into another level change that Gugnon stuffed.
After Gugnon landed a right uppercut and a low kick, Steele stepped forward with a stabbing right hand that dropped his opponent. He followed immediately with a one-two and finished the sequence with standing-to-ground punches as referee Saman Amidi waved off the contest. The official result was a TKO (punches) at 3:54 of Round 1.
Steele’s previous UFC win came on May 2 in Perth, where he submitted Dom Mar Fan with an inverted heel hook at 3:56 of the first round. That performance followed a unanimous-decision loss to Rongzhu in his February 2025 promotional debut at UFC 312, a fight that still earned Fight of the Night honors. Gugnon had submitted Milos Janicic with a rear-naked choke in the first round of his own UFC debut on August 1.
The finish improved Steele to 9-1 overall and 2-1 in the UFC while dropping Gugnon to 10-3. It also marked Steele’s second consecutive first-round stoppage and the earliest finish recorded on a card headlined by the featherweight title fight between Alexander Volkanovski and Movsar Evloev.
UFC’s official account described the result as quick work and a thunderous Round 1 knockout, the first of the evening in Abu Dhabi. Steele, fighting out of Las Vegas, has now finished six of his nine professional wins. His Contender Series appearance in October 2024 ended with a second-round body-shot TKO of Chasen Blair that earned him a UFC contract.
Immediately after the stoppage, Steele called for a $100,000 performance bonus. The request circulated on UFC’s Paramount+ channels as the early prelims continued. Whether that bonus is awarded will be determined after the full card, which also includes a bantamweight title trilogy between Petr Yan and Merab Dvalishvili.
The knockout was the second fight of the night after Iasmin Lucindo’s unanimous-decision win over Nicolle Caliari in the opening strawweight bout. Steele’s finish set the tone for a card that still has several ranked matchups remaining on the preliminary and main portions.
Steele, 31, now sits at 2-1 inside the promotion after three appearances. His ability to finish with both submissions and strikes gives the UFC a versatile lightweight option on the early prelims. Gugnon, 26, saw his six-fight winning streak snapped in his second Octagon outing.
The result keeps Steele active after an injury forced the cancellation of a planned August bout. He will likely look to build on the back-to-back first-round finishes when the UFC assigns his next opponent. Gugnon returns to the drawing board after a short night that began with early pressure but ended once Steele’s right hand landed clean.
UFC 333 continues through the evening in Abu Dhabi with the two title fights still ahead on the main card. Steele’s knockout is already the first finish of the night, and the lightweight division has one more name with a recent stoppage on his record.
