Seven years removed from his first time stepping inside the octagon, Jesse Ronson has his first career UFC win.
Ronson, the 34-year-old out of London, Ontario, Canada, first joined the promotion in 2013 and found himself on one of the hardest-luck stretches imaginable, as he dropped three consecutive decisions to legit competition in Michel Prazeres, Francisco Trinaldo and Kevin Lee.
That last one in 2014 was his final UFC bout … until Saturday at UFC on ESPN 14. This time, Ronson (22-10 MMA, 1-3 UFC) wasn’t letting it go to the judges.
In a welterweight undercard matchup, Ronson, usually a lightweight, wasted little time getting the job done in a first-round victory over Nicolas Dalby.
Ronson, who took the fight on short notice, hit Dalby (18-4-1 MMA, 2-3-1 UFC) with a right hand and then dropped him with a left. He followed up with elbows on the mat, then when Dalby gave up his back, Ronson sunk in a rear-naked choke for the submission at the 2:48 mark.
Ronson didn’t hide his feelings about his long journey back to the UFC.
“It was to hell and back. I clawed tooth and nail to get back here,” Ronson said in his post-fight interview. “To hell with all that. Here I am. I’m freakin’ back.”
Check out Ronson’s finish in the video below:
UFC on ESPN 14 took place Saturday at Flash Forum at Yas Island in Abu Dhabi. The card aired on ESPN and streamed on ESPN+.
