It was a long, winding road back to the Octagon for Mike Swick, but he put an exclamation point on it with an impressive knockout victory at UFC on Fox 4 on Saturday night in Los Angeles.
Swick started strong in round one, wasting no time taking the fight to DaMarques Johnson, rocking him early with a couple right hands. Johnson, however, recovered and came back with everything Swick dished out and more.
In fact, after Johnson put Swick on the mat, it looked as if he might have the fight wrapped up. He hurt Swick with some brutal ground and pound, and had a D’arce choke all but sunk, allowing Swick to slip away while he tried to adjust and sink it deeper.
This was Swick’s comeback fight after two and half years out of the Octagon due to an elusive medical condition. In short, he wasn’t going to be denied.
Early in the second stanza, Johnson came at Swick with a kick. Swick caught it and forced Johnson to his back, then planted a right hand to the bridge of his knows, knocking him out cold. Two more right hands jacked his jaw before the referee could call a halt to the fight.
The end came none too soon, as Swick mentioned that Johnson did more damage in the first round than we could all realize watching the fight.
“He came a lot harder than I thought. He hit me in the eye in the first round, I couldn’t see. I was really worried, because I couldn’t see out of one eye,” recounted Swick.
That’s when he turned on the gas, however.
“I was throwing everything I had. I wasn’t getting knocked out tonight,” he added.
“Hey guys, remember me? Because I remember all of you!”
If fans didn’t remember Swick, they won’t easily forget him after such a stunning comeback.
Welcome back Mike “Quick” Swick.
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