At UFC Vegas 54 earlier tonight (Saturday, May 14, 2022), Andre Petroski submitted Nick Maximov in the first round (anaconda choke) to hand him his first professional loss. The MMA event went down from inside the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Ultimate Fighter contestant Petroski is now 3-0. The 76 seconds into the first round, Petroski choked Maximov so severely that he fell unconscious before referee Chris Tognoni intervened to stop proceedings.
In addition to their grappling skills, both middleweights started swinging heavy leather on their feet. Until Maximov launched in for one of his legs, which caused quite a bit of a stir, leaving the teams scrambling for position. During a brief moment Petroski had control of the situation before Maximov began to grab another leg and rolled over. In the next transition Petroski hit an anaconda choke and tightened it up pretty quickly. The waiting process proved to be a bit monotonous for Maximov, but it did allowed Petroski the opportunity to make his grip tighter and to put the protege of Nate Diaz to sleep.
Official result: Andre Petroski def. Nick Maximov by submission (anaconda choke) at 1:16 of Round one
Watch the highlights below:
Petroski submits Maximov with the anaconda choke to start #UFCVegas54 😳 pic.twitter.com/pQS6nFMGaW
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) May 14, 2022
The 30-year-old is now 3-0 in the UFC. The former Ultimate Fighter winner came into this matchup as a pretty big underdog, but he showed he’s one of the best grapplers in his weight class today. In his postfight interview, Petroski asked Gerald Meerschaert for a fight in Singapore in three weeks.
