Cody Brundage needed just one opportunity to put away Dalcha Lungiambula at UFC Fight Night 203, but it came after a thorough beating.
Lungiambula (12-3 MMA, 3-2 UFC) came out on fire at the opening bell of the middleweight fight Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. He landed a ton of punishing shots on Brundage (7-2 MMA, 1-1 UFC), putting swelling all over the face and nearing the point of a stoppage.
It just took a simple mistake from Lungiambula to turn the tide, though, as he attempted a level-change near the fence, which allowed Brundage to jump right into a guillotine choke. He locked it in, and Lungiambula tapped at the 3:41 mark of Round 1.
Check out the improbable finish below (via Twitter):
WHAT A COMEBACK FOR @CodyBrundage185 🤯 #UFCVegas50 pic.twitter.com/qUjCvYVDBO
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) March 12, 2022
Brundage said post-fight that he had a feeling it would be a challenging start against Lungiambula. However, he had confidence his durability would hold up against an opponent with poor conditioning, and now he’s in the UFC win column for the first time.
“I knew he was going to fade,” Brundage said during his post-fight interview with Paul Felder. “His biggest weakness is his cardio, and I was just waiting for him to gas. He took a sloppy shot, and I made him pay for it.”
