COPENHAGEN, Denmark – Mark Madsen made a statement in his octagon debut on Saturday when he utterly steamrolled Danilo Belluardo for a first-round TKO at UFC on ESPN+ 18.
The lightweight bout between Madsen (9-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) and Belluardo (12-4 MMA, 0-2 UFC) served as the co-main event at UFC on ESPN+ 18, which took place at Royal Arena and streamed on ESPN+.
The three-time Olympian in wrestling, who hails from Denmark, went straight to his bread and butter from the opening bell. Madsen put Belluardo on his back early, and from there, the result was inevitable. He quickly opened up with a ruthless assault of ground-and-pound, and Belluardo did little to resist.
Referee Leon Roberts gave Belluardo every opportunity to keep himself in the fight, but he did little other than cover up and the fight was stopped at the 1:12 of Round 1.
The crowd went wild for Madsen’s performance, and he reveled in the celebration of the local crowd.
“Undefeated still, and what a moment,” Madsen said in his post-fight interview with Dan Hardy. “What a gratifying moment. Thank you to this, UFC. This is absolutely amazing.”
Up-to-the-minute UFC on ESPN+ 18 results include:
- Mark Madsen def. Danilo Belluardo via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 1:12
- Gilbert Burns def. Gunnar Nelson via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29)
- Ion Cutelaba def. Khalil Rountree via TKO (punches and elbows) – Round 1, 2:35
- Ovince Saint Preux def. Michal Oleksiejczuk via submission (Von Preux choke) – Round 2, 2:14
- Nicolas Dalby def. Alex Oliveira via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- John Phillips def. Alen Amedovski via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 0:14
- Makhmud Muradov def. Alessio Di Chirico via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Ismail Naurdiev def. Siyar Bahadurzada via unanimous decision (30-25, 30-25, 30-26)
- Giga Chikadze def. Brandon Davis via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
- Lina Lansberg def. Macy Chiasson via unanimous decision (29-27, 29-27, 29-28)
- Marc Diakiese def. Lando Vannata via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26)
- Jack Shore def. Nohelin Hernandez via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 3, 2:51
