Chris Barnett (+430) Upsets Jake Collier And Hits His Signature Flipping Celebration!!!
Chris Barnett just woke up the UFC 279 crowd and blew the roof off the place with a HUGE upset over Jake Collier on the prelims! How can you not love this guy?!
Barnett was rocked badly in the first round, cut so bad that he definitely couldn't see out of his left eye, and at some point, he got hit so hard that the left side of his face started completely drooping.
I don't want to say I started to worry about him having a stroke in the octagon but I started to worry about him having a stroke in the octagon. I still don't know why his face went droopy, but I digress.
In the second round, Collier was clearly exhausted, and so was Barnett - but Barnett was a man on a mission. "Beastboy" put the pressure on, made Collier shoot for a horrible takedown where Barnett wound up on Collier's back and went wild with ground-and-pound til it was (rightfully) called by the referee!
Of course, "Beastboy" then hit his signature celebration....
Afterwards, he gave a Dusty Rhodes-esque promo to Joe Rogan, thanking all of the fans in the arena for chanting his name and giving him strength….
….and then danced all over everyone's faces and doubled fisted drinks from the crowd on the way out….
In case you didn't know - Barnett dealt with a personal tragedy this year, when his fiancé passed away of encephalitis a few weeks after his last fight in April. He actually received a call almost 24 hours before that last fight “to make a decision” when her health went downhill. I can't imagine what he went through, honestly. His story, comeback, and positivity through it all is nothing short of inspirational.
Also, just a side note - he missed weight for this fight yesterday and was the heaviest fighter to ever step into the octagon. He weighed in at 267.5lbs and made history as the second ever fighter to ever miss weight at heavyweight. Unit.