Christian Leroy Duncan’s much hyped octagon debut ended without much fanfare after Dusko Todorovic suffered a brutal knee injury in the opening round that stopped their fight at UFC 286.
Coming into the night, Duncan was a prospect with all eyes on him after he put together an undefeated record including several jaw-dropping finishes under the Cage Warriors banner. Duncan looked strong to start the fight but as the middleweights battled for position in the clinch, Todorovic took a wrong step as he twisted his body and he fell down in a heap on the canvas.
As soon as Todorovic grabbed his knee, the referee could see he was clearly injured and the fight was stopped with the end coming at 1:52 in the first round.
“He just collapsed in front of me,” Duncan said afterwards. “I heard him make a sound and he collapsed. I have no clue what happened.
“Completely anticlimactic performance. Certain things are out of our hands. It feels at home being in here. I’m just annoyed I couldn’t put on a performance here.”
Duncan came out looking comfortable despite making his debut in front of a home audience but he never really got a chance to do much during the fight outside of a couple stick leg kicks early.
Replays showed Todorovic turning in the clinch and it appeared that his knee popped before he fell down to the ground in obvious pain. It’s possible that Todorovic suffered a torn ACL or another ligament in his knee given the non-contact injury and the way he crashed to the canvas to end the fight.
Todorovic eventually left the octagon with help from his coaches as he limped out of the cage while Duncan will officially move to 1-0 in the UFC while maintaining his undefeated record overall.
