Sydney brawler Joshua Culiabo stunned UFC 284 by somehow fighting back from a nasty kick to the groin to beat Melsik Baghdasaryan.
It was late in the first round of their bout in Perth when a Baghdasaryan round kick landed in the worst area for Culiabo.
The Aussie fighter dropped to the canvas immediately, clutching at his private parts as the referee ordered a halt to the bout and Baghdasaryan back to his corner.
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Fighters are allowed five minutes to recover from an illegal shot, but Culiabo only took two and was then back on his feet.
It was minutes later, in the second round, when he stunned Baghdasaryan by pulling him to the canvas and choking him out to force a stoppage.
Afterwards, the plucky Australian was asked about the unfortunate incident involving his crowdn jewels.
“Pretty bad. You know? It’s like one of those ones where you just gotta figure out if they’re still there,” Culiabo said in the octagon.
“You know what I mean? Yeah, like I said, like if you’ve ever been hit in the nuts before and it feels like they’re up… That’s a game we played when we grew up, where you get smacked in the nuts and it sort of feels like it comes up.”
When the topic of conversation moved on to Culiabo’s win, he couldn’t help but fire up the large Perth crowd.
“First of all, I’ve always wanted to do this – Aussie, Aussie, Aussie,” he yelled as the fans went wild.
“This is a dream come true. Perth, thankyou for having me. And the UFC coming down, that was phenomenal.”
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