Written by If you blinked, you would have missed Robelis Despaigne’s first fight since his UFC release.
At Karate Combat 51, Despaigne stepped into the karate pit for his debut fight with the promotion to face Dominik Jedrzejczyk. Despaigne threw a total of two strikes: a kick and a right hand. The right clipped Jedrzejczyk, ending the fight in the blink of an eye in just 5 seconds.
You can watch a video replay of the full fight in the video above.
Despaigne, a 6-foot-7 heavyweight, turned heads on the regional MMA scene with knockouts just like this one. His highlight reel earned him a shot in the UFC, where he debuted in March at UFC 299. That fight, much like his Karate Combat debut, was a quick one. He knocked out Josh Parisian in just 18 seconds to win a Performance of the Night bonus.
Unfortunately, Despaigne then lost back-to-back unanimous decisions to Waldo Cortes-Acosta and Austen Lane, leading to an exit from the UFC in just three fights.
Friday, however, Despaigne returned to his finishing ways, adding another highlight to his reel to cap off a whirlwind 2024. In MMA, Despaigne owns five first-round finishes in seven total fights.