#VFL Ovince Saint Preux wins by first round TKO

Ovince Saint Preux knocked out Patrick Cummins at 4:54 of Round 1 Saturday night, improving his UFC record to 6-1.

Preux was taken down several times in the fight, but Cummins’ final takedown attempt, however, proved costly.

Ovince Saint Preux couldn’t always stop Patrick Cummins from taking him down in their classic striker-versus-grappler match-up. He did, however, make him pay for every attempt – especially the last one.

With Cummins (7-2 MMA, 3-2 UFC) charging forward late in the first, a retreating Saint Preux (18-6 MMA, 6-1 UFC) launched a left uppercut that caught Cummins cleanly on the chin, sitting him down in the center of the cage and opening the door for a brutal torrent of punches by Saint Preux that would lead to a TKO stoppage at 4:54 of Round 1.

It was Preux’s ninth career knockout and the second straight first-round knockout since his loss to Ryan Bader in August. He needed just 34 seconds to dispose of Mauricio Rua last November.

“I knew the No. 1 thing coming into this fight was to stop his takedowns and throws that uppercut,” Saint Preux said. “I knew one of those were going to catch him and drop him. Pretty much all of my combinations had something to do with an uppercut.”

Preux made it no secret that he wants to be on the card for the UFC event in Nashville later this summer, and he’ll fight anyone for that opportunity.

“I made my UFC debut here [in Newark in 2013] and it didn’t go how I planned,” Saint Preux said. “So coming back here, I just wanted to give [the crowd] a good show. I definitely want to be on the Nashville, Tennessee, card [on Aug. 8]. Ovince Saint Preux versus anybody!”

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