UFC Vegas 21 video: Ryan Spann brutalizes Misha Cirkunov to earn first-round knockout

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images The first loss of his career inside the octagon had Ryan Spann fired up to return to the win column and he needed just 71 seconds to dispatch Misha Cirkunov in the UFC Vegas 21 co-main event.
The highly touted Contender Series prospect had something to prove after nearly finishing Johnny Walker in his last fight but then suffering a knockout loss of his own. This time under similar circumstances after dropping Cirkunov with a huge straight punch down the middle, Spann let his stand up again to continue dishing out the punishment rather than going to the ground with him.
The strategy paid off as Spann’s assault resulted in another shot just bounced off the side of Cirkunov’s head, sending him down to the mat for the second time and he would not rise again.
The official stoppage came at just 1:11 into the first round as Spann earned a TKO victory.
“We went through a lot of stuff to get to this fight,” Spann said after getting emotional in the octagon following the win. “Life happens, we here, we’re better, we’re stronger. I knew I just had to touch him. I wanted to make sure we did it right this time.”
Spann was on the attack as soon as he was unleashed from the corner and Cirkunov did his best to trade punches in the exchanges but that strategy backfired as soon as he got dropped the first time.
Once he was back on the feet, Cirkunov had no time to recover with Spann coming after him with a barrage of punches until one landed that ultimately ended the fight.
With a 5-1 record now in the UFC, Spann is ready to begin his climb up the rankings and he already had an idea about his next opponent following the knockout win.
“I want to be in the top 10 myself,” Spann said. “I want to say Jimmy Crute and Anthony Smith, that fight is still lined up? I’ll take the winner of that.”


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