UFC Vegas 78 took place on August 12th, 2023 and although most of the attention was on the main event, one of the preliminary card fighters managed to lock up the third twister finish in the promotion’s history. The fighter in question was Da’mon Blackshear, who was competing in his fourth fight almost a year to the day after he made his debut for the promotion. Blackshear had experienced mixed results at first and his promotional record stood at 1-1-1 coming into his fight with Jose Johnson, who was making his UFC debut after winning a contract on Dana White’s Contender Series.
It didn’t actually take long at all for the fight to hit the ground, as Blackshear hit a takedown inside of less than a minute. Although Johnson managed to get back up, he was taken back down in the third minute and Blackshear was able to take his back. It only took around 30 seconds or so for Blackshear to set up the twister and when he secured the tap, he earned one of the $50,000 ‘Performance of the Night’ bonuses available at UFC Vegas 78.
UFC Vegas 78 Full Results
Vicente Luque defeats Rafael dos Anjos via Decision – Unanimous (49-46, 48-47, 48-47)
Cub Swanson defeats Hakeem Dawodu via Decision – Unanimous (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Khalil Rountree Jr. defeats Chris Daukaus TKO – Punches (Round 1, 2:40)
Iasmin Lucindo defeats Polyana Viana via Submission – Arm-triangle Choke (Round 2, 3:42)
AJ Dobson defeats Tafon Nchukwi via Decision – Unanimous (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Josh Fremd defeats Jamie Pickett via Decision – Unanimous (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Preliminary Card
Marcus McGhee defeats JP Buys via KO – Punch (Round 1, 2:19)
Terrance McKinney defeats Mike Breeden via TKO – Punches (Round 1, 1:25)
Isaac Dulgarian defeats Francis Marshall via TKO – Ground and Pound (Round 1, 4:48)
Martin Buday defeats Josh Parisian via Submission – Kimura (Round 1, 4:11)
Jaqueline Amorim defeats Montserrat Ruiz via TKO – Ground and Pound (Round 3, 3:41)
Da’mon Blackshear defeats Jose Johnson via Submission – Twister (Round 1, 3:47)
Luana Santos defeats Juliana Miller via TKO – Strikes (Round 1, 3:41)
The full UFC Vegas 78 event replay, including Da’mon Blackshear hitting the third twister finish in UFC history, is available to watch on UFC Fight Pass.