Costa Lands Historic Spinning Kick
Melquizael Costa delivered a rare spinning back kick knockout against Dan Ige at UFC Fight Night Houston on February 22, marking only the sixth such finish in UFC history. Michel Pereira snapped a three-fight losing streak with a split decision victory over Zachary Reese, showing more controlled performance to improve to 32-14. Geoff Neal defeated Uroš Medić and Serghei Spivac won against Ante Delija on the same card.
- The knockout by Melquizael Costa was the first time Dan Ige has been stopped in his professional career. The finish came at 4:56 of the first round, earning Costa a $100,000 Performance of the Night bonus. - With this loss, Dan Ige's recent record falls to 1-4 in his last five fights. Costa, meanwhile, is on a six-fight winning streak. - Michel Pereira and Zachary Reese were occasional training partners before their bout. The fight was a bloody, back-and-forth affair, with all three judges scoring the final round for Reese. - The sellout crowd of 17,160 at the Toyota Center generated a gate of $3.3 million. - Uroš Medić's knockout of Geoff Neal came via a left hook just 1 minute and 19 seconds into the first round. This was Medić's third consecutive first-round finish and earned him a $100,000 Performance of the Night bonus. - Serghei Spivac's victory over Ante Delija snapped a two-fight losing streak for the Moldovan heavyweight. Both fighters were bleeding by the end of the first round in what was described as a grueling, back-and-forth battle.
