{"id":37592,"date":"2026-04-05T14:17:54","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T14:17:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/news\/news\/Tommy-McMillen-wanted-to-prove-point-by-knocking-out-Manolo-Zecchini-200733"},"modified":"2026-04-05T14:17:54","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T14:17:54","slug":"tommy-mcmillen-wanted-to-prove-point-by-knocking-out-manolo-zecchini","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/tommy-mcmillen-wanted-to-prove-point-by-knocking-out-manolo-zecchini\/","title":{"rendered":"Tommy McMillen wanted to prove point by knocking out Manolo Zecchini"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
<\/div>\n

Tommy
\nMcMillen<\/a> wants to establish himself as a fan-friendly
\nfighter. <\/p>\n

McMillen made his
\nUFC<\/a> debut in a featherweight tilt against Manolo
\nZecchini<\/a> at
\nUFC Fight Night 272<\/a> in Las Vegas. It was a firefight from the
\nvery beginning, with McMillen landing the more consequential shots.
\nWhile both fighters started showing signs of fatigue in the very
\nfirst round, McMillen had an evident advantage on the feet. \u201cGun\u201d
\nfinally dropped his beaten-down opponent with a knee to the body,
\nand a few follow-up shots were necessary for the referee to step
\nin. <\/p>\n

\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

With McMillen being an ace submission artist, the oddsmakers had
\nhim as a heavy favorite for a submission win. McMillen claims he
\ncould have submitted his opponent any time he wanted. However, the
\n28-year-old wanted to put on a show in his UFC debut. McMillen
\nnotes that he went toe-to-toe on the feet and came out victorious
\nagainst the Italian, who has nine knockout wins to his name.<\/p>\n

Something to Prove<\/h2>\n

\u201cVegas is smart, they had the submission as minus money,\u201d McMillen
\nsaid in a post-fight interview with the UFC. \u201cI could have subbed
\nthat kid out any time I wanted to. But I was coming in here with
\nsomething to prove. I want those bonuses, I fight for bonus money.
\nSo I went in there and TKO\u2019d him\u2026 I think he\u2019s got like 10
\nfinishes, nine knockouts. And I went in there and stood toe-to-toe
\nwith a dude that\u2019s got knockout power. He\u2019s knocked a lot of people
\nout, I knocked him out. I just want to prove to people that I can
\ndo that. I can go in there and sub them out, but I think that was a
\nlot more fun for the fans.\u201d<\/p>\n

The undefeated McMillen (10-0) has only gone to the distance once
\nin his 10 career wins, during his
\nDana White’s Contender Series<\/a> victory last year. Meanwhile,
\nthis was Zecchini\u2019s (11-5) first fight since a loss in his UFC
\ndebut in 2023. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

“This is only the beginning.”<\/p>\n

Tommy
\nMcMillen<\/a> makes a statement in his UFC debut, finishing Manolo
\nZecchini<\/a> in the first round.<\/p>\n

Results, highlights & more \u27a1\ufe0f https:\/\/t.co\/oo34EjDnIi<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/NnUyAsFzSo<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 UFC News (@UFCNews)
\nApril 5, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/center> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tommy McMillen wants to establish himself as a fan-friendly fighter.  McMillen made his UFC debut in a featherweight tilt against Manolo Zecchini at UFC Fight Night 272 in Las Vegas. It was a firefight from the very beginning, with McMillen landing the more consequential shots. While both fighters started showing signs of fatigue in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37593,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[150],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-martial-arts-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37592"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37592\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}