Rather than celebrate the most impressive knockout of his career, Josh Emmett sat silently across the cage.
Emmett (19-4) put out Bryce Mitchell’s lights with a violent overhand right less than two minutes into the opening frame of their meeting in the main card opener at UFC 296 on Saturday in Las Vegas. The brutality of the knockout sunk in as Mitchell, now 16-2, could be seen convulsing on the canvas moments later and was still on wobbly legs while being helped out of the Octagon. What would otherwise have been cause for celebration—a knockout sure to win a “Performance of the Night” bonus from the UFC, and the end of the first losing streak of Emmett’s career—instead became a somber moment.