Ateba Gautier delivered as advertised earlier tonight (Sat., Mar. 29, 2025) at UFC Mexico City LIVE on ESPN+ from inside Arena CDMX in Mexico City, Mexico, sparking fellow middleweight Jose Medina with a monstrous first-round knockout (knee) in his anticipated Octagon debut.
Gautier, who is fresh off a huge knockout win on the Contender Series last September, came into his UFC debut a very large betting favorite. The only thing going for Medina is the fact that he had never been finished by strikes coming into this weekend, but that all changed once Gautier got going.
The massive middleweight newcomer was landing at a pretty good clip early on, but Medina kept smiling and welcomed the pain. Gautier happily obliged and ended up connecting on a nice overhand right. It clipped Medina and even though he acted like he wasn’t hurt the punch certainly cost him. Gautier rushed in and launched a ridiculous knee inside that caught Medina flush and sent him crashing to the canvas. The referee didn’t need to see much more.
Check out the final moments in the above video player.
Gautier, who is only 22 years of age, is now 7-1 as a professional fighter. This was a perfect debut for the aspiring middleweight prospect, but it came against a less-talented fighter who is known to step forward and take on punches. It will be interesting to see what Gautier can do against stiffer competition his next time out.
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This story originally appeared on MMA Mania
