Marcus McGhee Stops Short-Notice Anthony Romero at UFC 332
Marcus McGhee stopped Anthony Romero at 4:58 of the first round on Saturday at UFC 332. Two seconds were left on the clock at the Delta Center when the referee stepped in, and a fight that had been booked three days earlier was over.
The finish came after a scramble near the fence. Romero, in white, was off the center line and then on the canvas. McGhee, in blue, followed him down and landed the shots that ended it. “Big shots by McGee. Big shots,” the Paramount+ call said. “Oh, he’s hurt.” McGhee stayed on him until the referee moved in with the clock under five seconds.
The broadcast had already named the moment. “The maniac trying to close the show late round one,” one voice said, using the nickname McGhee has carried into the UFC. Then the stoppage. “The referee steps in. Marcus McGee taking care of the bully.” Romero’s nickname is “The Bully.” He walked off with both hands on his head. The call noted it. “Boy, he looked very disappointed to stop there. He was trying.”
McGhee did not have this opponent on Wednesday. He was booked to face Bernardo Sopaj at bantamweight until Sopaj withdrew with an injury. Romero, the Up Next Fighting champion at 7-2 with one no contest, took the fight on three days’ notice, and the bout moved to featherweight. McGhee opened as a heavy favorite, listed around minus-500. He is now 12-2, 6-1 in the UFC.
The sequence matched the late report more than a debutant’s chance. Sherdog’s highlight described a jab that hurt Romero, then punches against the cage. RotoWire logged two knockdowns, with the second ending it. The video shows the last of those moments: Romero down near the Budweiser logo, McGhee in top position, the referee waving it off, McGhee raising both arms on the opposite side of the Octagon.
McGhee had been working his way back from the first loss of his UFC run. He dropped a decision to Petr Yan in July 2025, then beat John Yannis by unanimous decision in June 2026 to move to 5-1 in the promotion. MMA Fighting had him at No. 15 in its bantamweight rankings heading into fight week. Saturday was a short-notice step up in weight, not a ranked featherweight assignment, and he still finished it.
Romero arrived with a real finish rate and almost no time. Four of his seven wins had come by knockout, and his last one was a first-round stoppage of Yuma Horiuchi at 0:25 on May 9 in a UNF title defense. He had never fought in the UFC. Three days is not a camp, and a move from 135 to 145 on that timeline is not a normal debut. He still made McGhee work until the final seconds, which is what the disappointed walk-off looked like.
The corner note came before the finish. “Juan Gomez wants his guy off the center line,” the commentary said with about 22 seconds left, while both men were still on their feet. Romero did get off the line. He did not get off the canvas. McGhee closed from the top, and the referee did not let the round expire.
UFC 332 belonged to the vacant women’s flyweight title fight between Natalia Silva and Wang Cong later on the CBS main card. McGhee-Romero sat on the prelims, at 6 p.m. ET on Paramount+. A two-second stoppage still counts. McGhee has a sixth UFC win, a first-round finish on short notice, and a bantamweight ranking that this fight did not directly defend.
Sopaj is the bout that was supposed to happen, and Romero is the one that did. McGhee is 6-1 in the UFC with the Yan loss still the outlier. Romero has a debut stoppage and a nickname the broadcast used on the way out. The clock said 0:02 when it ended.
