UFC 327: How a brutal KO loss set Carlos Ulberg on the path toward light heavyweight gold

Carlos Ulberg was a few minutes into his UFC debut and already his work seemed to be just about finished. This was March of 2021, back when COVID was still a deterrent to large indoor gatherings and the UFC was still putting on pay-per-view events in its own little Apex arena.

That meant it was nice and quiet in the cozy confines, nothing like the throng of fans he’ll fight in front of at Kaseya Center in Miami on Saturday, when he challenges for the vacant UFC light heavyweight title in the main event of UFC 327. Viewers of the prelim broadcast back in 2021 could still hear the crisp thwack of Ulberg’s gloves as they found a home on Kennedy Nzechukwu’s face. They could almost feel the dull thud of an early head kick that sent Nzechukwu staggering off to one side.

This newcomer from New Zealand’s kickboxing scene, still fresh off a quick knockout win on Dana White’s Contender Series a few months earlier, seemed to have the goods. A finish couldn’t be far off. Not with the way Ulberg was landing, which at one point in the first round prompted referee Herb Dean to call for Nzechukwu to show he was still in the fight.

Turned out, yeah, he was. After barely surviving the opening frame, Nzechukwu found Ulberg considerably slowed in the second by a mixture of adrenaline and overexertion. The short notice. The effort he’d poured into finding that knockout blow. It had all taken a toll on the UFC newbie. A cracking right hand to the jaw from Nzechuckwu put him down, and a few follow-up punches put the first loss on Ulberg’s professional MMA record.

“At first I was like, ‘Herb Dean, why did you stop it? I was all good!’ Then I watched the fight,” Ulberg told Uncrowned.

Carlos Ulberg's UFC debut ended poorly at the hands of Kennedy Nzechukwu in March 2021.

(Jeff Bottari via Getty Images)

What he saw on that replay was his own body crumpled against the fence, hands nowhere near his face, offering nothing resembling an intelligent defense. It was exhaustion as much as the force of the blow that did it. But it was also a problem with his preparation, Ulberg realized.

“I was a part-time fighter then,” he said. “I was fresh and I was green on the MMA scene, coming from kickboxing, where I was used to three-minute rounds. I was winning up until I wasn’t. But the big thing was, after that fight I got a [$50,000 Fight of the Night] bonus.”

The money and the loss proved to be a powerful combination. The former gave Ulberg the means to commit himself to MMA as a full-time venture, and the latter gave him renewed motivation. He knew he was better than how he’d represented himself on the sport’s biggest stage. Now he just needed to prove it.

“At first I think I was just happy to be in the UFC,” Ulberg said. “But after that, I was like, nah, I’m not going into these fights like this anymore. I’m going to go in there and I’m going to take over. I’m going to take this thing from the person that’s trying to take it from me. I think that mental change was what switched it up for me.”

The results have been striking (no pun intended). Ulberg won his next nine fights in the UFC, with five of those coming by either knockout or TKO. In his latest outing, he slept former title challenger Dominick Reyes in the first round of a UFC main event. It was an emphatic victory that seemed to announce him as the division’s undeniable up-and-comer. Suddenly it was hard to talk title shots without at least speaking Ulberg’s name as a possibility.

Then a few weeks back he got the call. Alex Pereira was moving up to heavyweight and leaving his 205-pound title behind. Ulberg and former champ Jiri Prochazka would get the chance to fight for the vacant belt at UFC 327 on April 11. The time to show what he’d learned from that hard lesson in his UFC debut was now at hand. All he’d have to do is beat one of the division’s most uniquely eccentric fighters — which for many past opponents has appeared to be a lot easier than it actually is.

“He’s very unpredictable,” Ulberg said of Prochazka. “He’s a very chaotic fighter. But what he’s doing has been working for him. It’s up to me to put that to an end.”

Jiri Prochazka (left) is one of the most dangerous men in the UFC light heavyweight division.

(Sean M. Haffey via Getty Images)

Whether or not fans will truly look at the winner of this fight for the vacant title as the real light heavyweight champion is another question altogether. The way Ulberg sees it, a lot depends not only on who wins, but how. Squeaking by with a close decision won’t convert many skeptics. Making a statement with another knockout victory? That could be a different story.

One thing he’s sure of this time, Ulberg said, is that he won’t be content just to be there. He won’t let the nerves or the magnitude of the moment sap his strength the way he did in his UFC debut. That was a lesson he only needed to learn once, he insisted, and this time he plans to be on the delivering end of any surprises.

“I’ve prepared myself that it’s going to take a while,” Ulberg said. “But I’ve seen it. I’ve seen it all in my mind. I know what I’m expecting.”