UFC 271: Hyped Kiwi star Blood Diamond crashes out, left unconscious

Blood Diamond lies on the canvas after being submitted by Jeremiah Wells in their welterweight fight during the UFC 271 event at Toyota Centre. Photo / Getty Images

The UFC world was eagerly awaiting the debut of Zimbabwean-born New Zealander Blood Diamond.

But the hype deflated almost instantly as Blood Diamond was brutally choked unconscious by Jeremiah Wells on the preliminary undercard.

Kiwi star Israel Adesanya takes on Robert Whittaker in the UFC 271 main event in Houston, Texas, which also features Aussie Tai Tuivasa in one of the biggest fights of his career against cult-hero Derrick Lewis.

Blood Diamond fights out of City Kickboxing, the Auckland-base of Adesanya, where he was the UFC middelweight champion's training partner.

However, his UFC debut didn't go to plan.

Veteran UFC journalist Damon Martin speculated in a Twitter post that Blood Diamond may have been rushed into such a high profile fight simply because of his teammate connection to Adesanya.

"Jeremiah Well gives Blood Diamond a rude welcome to the octagon by choking him unconscious with a rear-naked choke in the first round," Martin posted.

"Everyone advances as their own speed so there's no right or wrong amount of fights but that being said, it felt like he got a look largely being Adesanya's teammate."

Izzy was crying backstage watching Blood Diamond weighing in for #UFC271

— Lozefc (@Lozefc) February 12, 2022

Blood Diamond showed some tough defence when taken down, but was ultimately easily submitted in the first round.

"I seen his eyes go back," Wells said inside the Octagon.

"The choke was in."

Die hard Izzy fans watching Blood Diamond get subbed like that:#UFC271

— Juicejitsu (@Juicejitsu1) February 13, 2022

Blood Diamond’s hype

— Loop 📼🦍🎠 (@forkfuture) February 12, 2022

A reminder that Blood Diamond is making history as the first Zimbabwean UFC fighter.

— Christopher Reive (@ChrisReive) February 10, 2022