UFC 242: Ottman Azaitar delivers KO of the Year contender with one-punch knockout of Teemu Packalen

Andreas Hale

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UFC 242: Ottman Azaitar delivers KO of the Year contender with one-punch knockout of Teemu Packalen image

This will undoubtedly go down as one of the most vicious one-punch knockouts of the year. 

Ottman Azaitar made his UFC debut one to remember when he stopped Teemu Packalen with a punch that put the Finnish fighter down face first and left him twitching in a frightening scene at UFC 242 in Abu Dhabi.

A knockout finish seemed inevitable once the fight started as Azaitar continuously tagged Packalen with hard punches whenever his opponent sought to clinch. But Packalen refused to alter his game plan and kept seeking to trap Azaitar in a Thai plum.

After getting rocked by a pair of hooks, Packalen backed off and attempted to be a little more cautious with his approach. Azaitar sensed his foe was badly damaged, though, and uncorked an overhand right that landed with a sickening thud and sent Packalen down to the canvas. 

Packalen was eventually able to exit the Octagon on his own, but Azaitar surely proved that he belonged in the biggest mixed martial arts promotion in the world.

Andreas Hale

Andreas Hale Photo

Andreas Hale is the senior editor for combat sports at The Sporting News. Formerly at DAZN, Hale has written for various combat sports outlets, including The Ring, Sherdog, Boxing Scene, FIGHT, Champions and others. He has been ringside for many of combat sports’ biggest events, which include Mayweather-Pacquiao, Mayweather-McGregor, Canelo-GGG, De La Hoya-Pacquiao, UFC 229, UFC 202 and UFC 196, among others. He also has spent nearly two decades in entertainment journalism as an editor for BET and HipHopDX while contributing to MTV, Billboard, The Grio, The Root, Revolt, The Source, The Grammys and a host of others. He also produced documentaries on Kendrick Lamar, Gennadiy Golovkin and Paul George for Jay-Z’s website Life+Times.