Phil Hawes made his UFC debut Saturday at UFC 254 in Abu Dhabi and if you blinked you might have missed it because he needed just 18 seconds to knockout Jacob Malkoun and make his presence known in the middleweight division.
Hawes, who had an incredible KO in Dana White’s Contender Series last month, showed everyone that he belongs in the UFC with his stunning KO of Malkoun. Hawes came out right away with pressure and folded Malkoun with a flurry of punches before the fight was quickly called.
It was an incredible performance by the middleweight who should only get bigger fights moving forward, which are going to be fun to watch.
PHIL HAWES. 18 SECONDS. #UFC254pic.twitter.com/foK6DrLQr3
— Spinnin Backfist (@SpinninBackfist) October 24, 2020
👊 WENT TO WORK 👊
An incredible debut for @PhillipHawes5!
[ #UFC254 on ESPN+ PPV: https://t.co/QRo69oxI0h ] pic.twitter.com/WotQqCABnO
— UFC (@ufc) October 24, 2020
UFC fighters and fans were in awe:
😳😳😳 what an introduction @philliphawes5 !!!! #megatron #UFC254
— Stephen Thompson (@WonderboyMMA) October 24, 2020
Hawes. Omg. Bye. Bye. Goodnight. 🐼💜💜💜💜 that was some sexy striking. @ufc #ufc254
— Julia Avila (@RagingPandaMMA) October 24, 2020
Phil Hawes got some serious power 😳😳 #ufc254
— Megan Anderson (@MeganA_mma) October 24, 2020
Wow hawes got paws!!!
— Belal Muhammad (@bullyb170) October 24, 2020
Hawes isn’t messing around. Woah! #UFC254
— Kenny Florian (@kennyflorian) October 24, 2020
Phil Hawes is turning into everything his hype told us he could be.
— Luke Thomas (@lthomasnews) October 24, 2020
*That* was the performance we've been waiting for from Phil Hawes for years
— Dave Doyle (@davedoylemma) October 24, 2020
Good lord. Phil Hawes. That's a hell of a debut in the UFC. Wow. #UFC254
— Chamatkar Sandhu (@SandhuMMA) October 24, 2020