UFC Fight Night 68 results: Anthony Birchak gets knockout upset of Joe Soto

Anthony Birchak

NEW ORLEANS – After being upset in his UFC debut on home soil, Anthony Birchak earned his first win in the promotion’s octagon with an early blitzkrieg that felled onetime title challenger Joe Soto.

Birchak (12-2 MMA, 1-1 UFC) caught Soto (15-4 MMA, 0-2 UFC) with a well-timed punch and prevented him from recovering with a flurry of punches.

The bantamweight bout was part of the main card of today’s UFC Fight Night 68 event at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans. It aired on FOX Sports 1 following prelims on FOX Sports 1 and UFC Fight Pass.

The official end came at the 1:37 mark of the first round. Birchak pressed the action and stayed active with combinations while Soto looked for the counter. Birchak followed a kick with a short right hand that clipped his opponent and sent him to the mat.

Soto grabbed for a leg lock and then recovered to his feet, where he covered up, bobbing and weaving in an attempt to escape danger. But the punches kept coming, and one sent him face-first to the mat.

After making his UFC debut as a short-notice title contender against champ T.J. Dillashaw at UFC 177, Soto remains winless in the octagon. Birchak stands at 1-1 after a submission loss this past December in his native Phoenix.

Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 68 results include:

• Anthony Birchak def. Joe Soto via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 1:37
• Francisco Rivera def. Alex Caceres via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 0:21
• Shawn Jordan def. Derrick Lewis via TKO (punches) – Round 2, 0:48
• Omari Akhmedov def. Brian Ebersole via TKO (injury) – Round 1, 5:00
• Chris Wade def. Christos Giagos via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Joe Proctor def. Justin Edwards via technical submission (guillotine choke) – Round 3, 4:58
• Jake Collier def. Ricardo Abreu via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
• Jose Quinonez def. Leonardo Morales via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 2:34

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 68, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

(MMAjunkie’s John Morgan contributed to this report on site in New Orleans.)