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MMA

18th Mar 2017

Marc Diakiese united the O2 Arena in awe with one punch knockout

This is special

Darragh Murphy

Marc Diakiese is special.

“Perfect” doesn’t do Diakiese’s professional record any justice because he’s not just stretching his win streak, he’s pulling off the spectacular in the process.

The 24-year-old didn’t quite pull off his ‘Mystic Marc’ prediction, having announced to the media ahead of his bout with Finland’s Teemu Packalen that he expected a first round spinning head kick knockout.

But it wasn’t for a want of trying in the O2 Arena as that was the very technique with which ‘Bonecrusher’ started his twelfth professional outing.

Packalen held firm under the initial flashiness but it wasn’t long before he was being stirred from unconsciousness.

In what was essentially Diakiese’s first punch of the evening, he stiffened Packalen’s body with a counter right over the top.

The thud of Packalen’s head off the mat united the raucous crowd in one great groan before Diakiese treated himself to a backflip to release some of that pent-up energy.

That pushes Diakiese to 12-0 as a pro, 3-0 in the UFC and guarantees him a place on UFC highlight reels for years to come.

Lightweight division, beware.