TUF China Finale results: Dong Hyun Kim KOs John Hathaway with vicious elbow

MACAU – Once again, the “Stun Gun” was absolutely stunning.

Dong Hyun Kim traded back and forth with John Hathaway for 11 minutes. But it was a massive elbow from Kim that floored the Brit in the third. It should have been hard for Kim to improve on his previous outing, a one-punch knockout of Erick Silva in Brazil. But he did it on Saturday.

The welterweight bout was the main event of today’s TUF China Finale event at The Venetian Macao’s CotaiArena. It streamed on UFC Fight Pass.

Hathaway landed a nice knee to the midsection right away. But Kim swarmed on him seconds later and stunned him with punches. With Hathaway turning away, Kim tried to get the finish. But Hathaway wouldn’t go down, and he tied Kim up defensively, at first. Nearly a minute in, he took Kim to the canvas, though Kim didn’t stay there for long.

Once they broke, Kim nearly hit a spinning back fist, then appeared to again wobble Hathaway with punches before the Brit again tied things back up. Midway through, things got a little sloppy, but Hathaway landed to the body while absorbing a few more punches from Kim. As Hathaway tried to work front kicks, Kim landed a big left hand and moments later, Hathaway was on the canvas eating heavy hands from Kim. Hathaway survived the round, but he clearly was hurt several times in the frame.

Kim stalked right away in the second, and Hathaway tried to land knees as a counter. After a brief clinch, Hathaway drilled an elbow that had Kim backing up, and he poured on a few more punches after that. Hathaway tried to take advantage as Kim appeared to be slowing. But halfway in, Kim landed some big left hands in close. Hathaway wanted a takedown with 80 seconds left, but it was Kim who got on top to ride out the round.

Right away in the third, Hathaway landed a knee, and Kim motioned him to throw more. So seconds later, he did with another elbow. After a short clinch, it appeared that the two would continue to trade back and forth.

But out of nowhere, and after threatening with spinning strikes throughout the fight, Kim finally landed one – and did so in devastating fashion. Hathaway threw a right front elbow, and Kim threw an elbow in response, landing it flush as Hathaway came forward.

Hathaway was out cold in a certain candidate for “Knockout of the Year” just two months in.

“I can’t tell you how happy I am,” Kim said. “There’s no stopping. I’m going to continue to keep going forward, forward, forward. I don’t care who my next opponent is – I want to get a shot at the title.”

Kim (19-2-1 MMA, 10-2 UFC) stretched his winning streak to four fights. Hathaway (17-2 MMA, 7-2 UFC) had a three-fight winning streak snapped in his first fight back after a long layoff.

Up-to-the-minute TUF China Finale results include:

• Dong Hyun Kim def. John Hathaway via knockout (elbow) – Round 3, 1:02
• Zhang Lipeng def. Wang Sai via split decision (29-28, 27-30, 29-28)
• Matt Mitrione def. Shawn Jordan via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 4:59
• Hatsu Hioki def. Ivan Menjivar via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Yui Chul Nam def. Kazuki Tokudome via split decision (29-27, 27-28, 29-28)
• Vaughan Lee def. Nam Phan via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26)
• Anying Wang def. Albert Cheng via TKO (doctor’s stoppage) – Round 1, 5:00
• Mark Eddiva def. Jumabieke Tuerxun via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

For complete coverage of the TUF China Finale, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of the site.

John Morgan contributed to this report on-site in Macau.