
UFC fighter Vanessa Demopoulos appeared to be knocked out several times during a brutal exchange that won her opponent a massive pay day.
The UFC returned to the Apex on Saturday night for a fight night card headlined by an exciting bantamweight bout between Raul Rosas Jr faced Raoni Barcelos that ended in devastating fashion.
However, right at the start of the card a shocking exchange led to women's strawweight fighter Demopoulos seemingly being 'knocked out' several times as she suffered perhaps the biggest loss of her career.
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Vanessa Demopoulos suffers devastating knockout loss after Terence Crawford training
Ahead of her fight against Yazmin Jauregui on Saturday night, Demopoulos started training with former five weight world champion boxer Crawford and his team B&B Sports Academy.
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Having lost three in a row heading into the clash with Jauregui, Demopoulos stated that the plan to train with her new team was to help develop her striking talents.
Unfortunately for 'Lil Monster' the hard work in the gym didn't appear to matter as Jauregui, who came into the fight following a long absence having last fought in September of 2024, got the night off to a fiery start with a first round knockout win.
After landing a heavy a counter-right on Demopoulos, Jauregui continued to land several concussive blows that were clearly wobbling her opponent as her legs gave way on several occasions.
Eventually, Demopoulos was unable to take any more and fell to the ground and as Jauregui jumped on top, referee Blake Grice quickly stepped in to wave off the fight.
Reacting to the devastating finish, one fan wrote on X: "Damn, she got knocked out like 5 times."
While another added: "Vanessa Demopoulos suffers a devastating KO loss after crispening her boxing under Terence Crawford this past camp. Looks like the ref helped her just as much as Terence."
Following the fight, Jauregui was awarded the $100,000 (ÂŁ74,000) performance of the night bonus for her 62 seconds knockout win.
âA lot of hard work was put into this, so thank you to everyone,â Jauregui said following the fight, speaking with former fighter and current UFC analyst Paul Felder.
The result takes her record to 12 wins and just two losses, while Demopoulos now has nine losses and 11 wins.
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UFC fighter sets record after disqualification for shocking illegal action
Later in the night the drama continued as, for the first time in its 21-year, 34-season history, The Ultimate Fighter (TUF), the UFC's reality series to find new star fighters, saw a champion crowned via disqualification.
Bantamweight fighters Ilimbek Akylbek and Mehemmedeli Osmanli clashed early on the main card of the evening as the finale for the most recent season of TUF.
Just over two minutes into the fight, it looked like Osmanli was on his way towards victory as he knocked Akylbek down with a heavy blow that could have been the beginning of a huge knockout win.
But, clearly excited by the knockdown, Osmanli chased Akylbek down and landed a knee directly on his chin while the bantamweight was still grounded, a illegal move.
The knee appeared to leave Akylbek unconcious, meaning the fight was waved off at 2:19 of the first round, giving the TUF title to Akylbek, despite the fact he had been knocked out.
Osmanli has since shared some posts on social media claiming that his opponent had 'faked' being knocked out by the illegal strike, but regardless of his anger at what was his own mistake, the result remains unchanged.
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