The 24-year-old Chinese prospect Taiyilake Nuuerri announced to the UFC fans at UFC Shanghai, but it didn't come without controversy.
When he came to UFC Shanghai this Saturday, Conor McGregor's teammate Kiefer Crosbie knew that he needed a victory, otherwise his time could end in the UFC, losing back-to-back.
The 35-year-old took on the 24-year-old debutant, Taiyilake Nuerraji, who was the youngest hunter on the entire card, who wants to leave his mark in the most important promotion.
Although 'Super Saiyan' Crosbie completely dominated, it came with some controversy in the first round.
Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
Crosbie suffers illegal knee stocking moments for Brutal Ko
Early in the fight, Nuuernaji showed the big advantage that he was in relation to the Irishman and landed an immediate staircase before he was on top of Crosbie on the ground.
The Chinese hunter looked to rain some heavy ground and pounds, while Crosbie tried to wriggle its way out of the position, but Nuaaji maintained his position well before switching to the entire mountain.
Again, the 24-year-old prospect landed a number of enormous elbows on Crosbie while the referee viewed the action further. Not long afterwards 'BDK' reached his knee where he looked to get up again.
Nuaaji then shot him with a huge illegal knee that immediately resulted in the fight that was stopped by Marc Goddard.
At that moment it seemed unlikely that Crosbie would continue the fight while his nose was flowing with blood, but he warned Goddard that he wanted to continue.
Goddard pulled Nueraji to the middle of the Octagon and pulled him two points, which could have been huge if the fight from the first round was.
Despite the fact that, not long after the fight had started again, Nuaaji scored another Takedown and rained a brutal elbow land and pound, and Goddard stepped in to save Crosbie from more unnecessary damage.
Will Kiefer Crosbie be cut from the UFC?
With this now the third loss of Crosbie under the UFC banner since he signed for the promotion in 2023, his time in the promotion will certainly be at risk.
And with the Irishman now at the age of 35, time is not on his side with the promotion that chooses to sign younger prospects.