After years of anticipation, Austin Vanderford finally made his long-awaited debut in the UFC on the prelim card for UFC Seattle, patiently biding his time for a chance on the grand stage. The impressive former Bellator title contender is making the move down to welterweight in order to pursue UFC gold. After the undercard had been decimated by cancellations, reschedulings, and even the retirement of legendary bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz, Vanderford was called upon on just four days’ notice. Despite his age, the debut could not have been better for him.

In the first place, it was Vanderford’s wife Paige VanZant, who was cornering him. Then the Gentleman had a dominant time over his opponent Nikolay Veretennikov inside the octagon as he defeated him with a second-round TKO. It didn’t take Vanderford to show off his impressive wrestling skills. As the Climate Pledge Arena let out the ‘USA’ chants, he took top control of Ukrainian Veretennikov early.

He almost landed a head and arm choke to finish Veretennikov in the first round, with two efforts towards the end of the 5 minutes approaching. He quickly got into a similar position in the second, although he opted for more strikes on the ground. Eventually, Vanderford got his rival’s arm locked and rained down ground-and-pound. This led referee Kevin MacDonald to step in and call a stop to the contest, much to the frustration of the Ukrainian, who is now 0-2 in the octagon. Everything was perfect this far.

But just after the fight ended Veretennikov made his way across the octagon and pushed Vanderford. He was seemingly unhappy with some shots in the closing exchange, perhaps feeling they were behind the head. It led to a brief scene that could have escalated if not for UFC security breaking the pair up. However, Vanderford, known as one of the nicest fighters, did not completely let it go and gave his opponent back with a crude gesture, losing his ‘Gentleman’ tag for a while!

But, despite the unforeseen altercation with his opponent, Vanderford didn’t let it get to his head, and he was all smiles after his victory. Marking his entrance in the UFC through this win, ‘The Gentleman’ roared as he said, “It sounds amazing, especially considering I took this fight on four days’ notice.” He further added, “Just stayed ready. I’m here, I’m ready. I’m happy, I would have liked to make the fight a little more exciting. Four days’ notice, I stepped up, I was ready and we came in and got the job done.” Meanwhile, someone reminded Dana White about an incident that took place a few years back.

Back in the UFC 113 in 2010, in a bout to determine the next challenger for the UFC welterweight title, Josh Koscheck beat Paul Daley in a mostly boring decision that left the fans in Montreal booing. But the aftermath of the fight had all the excitement. In a stunning turn of events, Daley walked up to Koscheck after the fight and sucker-punched him. This led the UFC President Dana White to immediately ban Daley.

“He’s done,” a furious White had said. “I don’t care if he’s the best 170-pounder in the world, he’ll never fight in the UFC again.” White called Daley’s sucker punch “one of the dumbest things I’ve ever seen,” and said that there was nothing Daley could do to get back into the UFC’s good graces. So after the Seattle incident, White was asked if Veretennikov would have the same fate. Interestingly, White Summarily discarded the idea while also ruling that the two incidents are nowhere comparable.

“What Paul Daley did was completely different; you just had three five-minute rounds to punch this guy in the face and you couldn’t.  So you’re going to go punch this guy in the face after the fight when he doesn’t expect it? That’s why that [the suspension] was done. He went over and pushed him. we aren’t those guys… You should see what goes on [backstage] here after the fights. You guys would be f***ing crying forever if you knew what went on. You’d be writing f***ing all kinds of stories and ‘what are you going to do to them?’ Believe me, that was nothing,” White said. But this clarification was not enough for the MMA community to keep from slamming the incident.

Fans are up in arms as Nikolay Veretennikov disappoints at UFC Seattle

After UFC Seattle, the UFC might have to cut Nikolay Veretennikov from the roster, considering they have given him three chances to prove himself in the Octagon, and he has failed on all three occasions. He lost his DWCS fight against Michael Morales, then fell short against Danny Barlow, and was ultimately humiliated by Austin Vanderford. Looking at this a fan stated, “he’ll be pumping my gas at Shell by Monday.” 

Dana White has little tolerance for crass behavior as he has a record of removing fighters after unsettling behavior. Last year Igor Severino was removed from the roster after noting his opponent Andre Lima in a fight and it appears Nikolay Veretennikov might follow the same fate, “Hopefully the UFC immediately cuts him. You don’t do that s— after the ref calls is.”

More fans called for Nikolay Veretennikov’s removal from the roster, “Bro did this as a 12-6 fighter. He’ll be putting the fries in the bag by Monday.”  The Kazakh fighter is currently on a three-fight losing streak under the promotion. Dana White might reconsider this signing after this antic.“Good way to get fired.” Last but not least, despite the performance, taking defeat gracefully is the mark of a true champion, but Veretennikov may have fallen short, “Nikolay was a big disappointment!”

UFC Seattle was indeed a victorious endeavor for Austin Vanderford. His arrival in the welterweight division might be a threat to some fighters. Given that, what are your thoughts on this fight? State your opinion in the comments below.