Marcus Buchecha brought one of the best grappling resumes in combat sports into UFC Vegas 116, but Ryan Spann shut down the part of the fight that was supposed to favor him most. After surviving Buchecha’s early back-take threat and mat pressure, Spann forced the fight back to open space and cracked him with a straight right that ended the night at 2:10 of the second round at the UFC APEX in Las Vegas.
Watch the finish below:
SPANN STRAIGHT RIGHT KO
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Buchecha had his best stretch early, when he dragged the fight down and started working from Spann’s back. Spann stayed patient, kept Buchecha from locking up a finish, and worked free before the grappling specialist could turn that position into a submission.
Ryan Spann solved the problem first, then got the knockout
Spann did not just land one big shot. He made Buchecha work, defended the toughest phase of the matchup, and let the fight get longer. As Buchecha slowed, Spann started finding more room on the feet and punished him with the right hand that sent the Brazilian crashing backward.
The win pushed Spann to 2-1 since moving to heavyweight and gave him his most meaningful result in the division so far. It also gave him his 24th professional MMA win. The Beaumont, Texas native is a former LFA light heavyweight champion who has been fighting professionally since 2013, and the move up has started to make more sense now that he is not draining himself to make 205.
Buchecha was a serious test because his background is not normal even by elite MMA standards. He is a multiple-time world jiu-jitsu champion, an ADCC gold medalist, and one of the most accomplished heavyweight grapplers of his era. He came into the night with a 5-3-1 pro MMA record and still looking for his first UFC win, which made Spann’s ability to survive the first round matter even more. Spann beat him after taking away the exact path most people expected Buchecha to use.
At heavyweight, a knockout like that gets attention fast. The division is always one violent finish away from a new name getting real traction, and Spann just gave himself that kind of push.
