Bendigo's Jimmy Crute scored the most impressive win of his UFC career when he scored a first round knockout victory over Modestas Bukauskas in Abu Dhabi on Sunday (AEDT).
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Crute, 24, improved his UFC record to 4-1 when he took down Bukauskas in just three minutes.
In an interview with the Bendigo Advertiser in June last year, Crute said he "needed to have more killer instinct".
The victory over Bukauskas showed the Bendigo boy has certainly developed in that area.
After attacking his opponent with his legs in the opening salvos, Crute floored Bukauskas with a brutal right hand to the face and followed up with an uppercut and left hook before the referee had no choice but to stop the fight.
In a post-fight interview, Crute, who is now based in Melbourne, lauded his coach Sam Greco.
"Look at my coaches, as if I'm not gonna win," Crute said as he was draped in an Australian flag.
"I wanted to emulate the Sammy G leg-kicks and that's what I did. He was hard to take down, and the old me, I would've lost a bit of control because the first takedown didn't go according to plan.
"The gameplan was to just chop his leg up and not let him set."
Crute made it clear who he'd like to take on next in the light heavyweight division.
"I know there's a man who was supposed to fight on this card, I know he won't turn me down ... Nikita Krylov, what do you want?," Crute stated.
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