Sean Sheehan 
There was yet another Irish fighter debut in the UFC this Saturday night as Donegal’s Joseph Duffy stepped into the Octagon for the first time. Having beaten both Norman Parke and Conor McGregor in his days on the local scene, Duffy entered his fight with American Jake Lindsey at UFC 185 in Dallas, Texas surrounded by a lot of hype. His performance, justified it.
Duffy looked calm walking to the cage and started in a similar manner, landing a series of early jabs straight off the bat. Lindsey answered with a couple of hard leg kicks which made the Donegal man check his movement but Duffy gave back what he got but with more force.
With less than a minute on the clock, Duffy began to get his combinations going. The former 7-0 professional boxer expertly attacked the head and body of Lindsey and had him backing up almost immediately. Lindsey had no answer for the striking of Duffy and as he reversed towards the fence ate another series of body shots.
Then, as Duffy looked to be coming in for another barrage, Lindsey was a sitting duck and Duffy landed a huge head kick which rocked the American to his very core. A couple of strikes later, the best of which was a rib crushing body shot, and Lindsey was on the floor curled up. Mercifully, referee Herb Dean stepped in and stopped the fight – giving Joseph Duffy a victory in his UFC debut in the very first round.
After a tremendous opening display inside the Octagon, Duffy has a fantastic footing to put a run together and climb the lightweight ranks. With a well rounded game, which he is honing at Montreal’s Tristar gym, the sky could certainly be the limit for the talented Ulsterman.
