5 most explosive moments from UFC 269: Charles Oliveira vs. Dustin Poirier

#4. Sean O’Malley does what he’s expected to do, takes out Raulian Paiva

Sean O’Malley delivered as advertised by knocking out Raulian Paiva in the first round.

The big knock right now on Sean O’Malley is that he simply hasn’t beaten enough top-level opponents to justify the hype around him. In that sense, nothing changed at UFC 269.

‘The Suga Show’ did what he was expected to do, dispatching Raulian Paiva in the first round. However, realistically, if anything else had happened, UFC fans would’ve been disappointed.

Thankfully, O’Malley’s style means when he does dispatch opponents – however overmatched they are – he does it in explosive style. So it was hardly a shock to see him handed the sixth $50K bonus of his UFC career.

The fight started relatively slowly, with Paiva seemingly content to keep his distance from O’Malley. The Brazilian looked nervous, and never really got any offense going before ‘The Suga Show’ found his range.

A huge right hand connected with Paiva late in the first round. From there, O’Malley wasted no time in chaining a nasty combination together, landing most of his shots before the Brazilian went down.

Paiva had enough about him to get to his feet, but it was all for nought. The Suga Show closed in to land some more heavy punches to seal the deal. This was another explosive knockout from O’Malley. One can only hope the UFC provides him the step up in competition he clearly needs in 2022.

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#3. Kai Kara-France ruins Cody Garbrandt’s move to the UFC flyweight division

Kai Kara-France welcomed Cody Garbrandt to the UFC flyweight division in vicious fashion.

When former UFC bantamweight kingpin Cody Garbrandt announced his drop to the flyweight division earlier this year, fans were largely intrigued.

‘No Love’ had always been one of the fastest and hardest hitting 135lbers in the UFC. So whether he could make his skills translate to 125lbs – becoming a title contender in the process – was a massive question. Unfortunately, his debut in the division was thoroughly spoiled – in explosive fashion – by Kai Kara-France last night.

‘Don’t Blink’ looked noticeably smaller than Garbrandt. However, he also appeared to be slightly faster than his opponent too. That paid off when he landed a clean right hook early on that sent ‘No Love’ crashing down.

Garbrandt got back up, but Kara-France quickly hurt him again. From there, the latter didn’t let up until a vicious uppercut put the former bantamweight champion down for good.

Whether this result was made possible due to Garbrandt’s weight cut and deteriorated chin is a fair question. Kara-France was never really known for his knockout power before. However, it’s impossible to take anything away from the Kiwi fighter.

‘Don’t Blink’ was unsurprisingly handed a $50K bonus for this performance, and that bodes well for him for 2022.