Cesar Almeida, who was not originally scheduled for UFC 334, left Madison Square Garden with a first-round knockout win over Donte Johnson on Saturday. Almeida joined the lineup on short notice, replacing Baisangur Susurkaev with a little over six weeks to prepare, and the bout was changed from a middleweight contest to a 190-pound catchweight bout. Johnson entered the fight unbeaten at 9-1 and as a big underdog.

The fight was competitive early, with Johnson willing to stand toe-to-toe with Almeida and at moments appearing close to landing a knockout blow himself. Almeida eventually found his range and dropped Johnson with a stiff right hand, then followed with ground-and-pound. Johnson got back to his feet, but Almeida kept landing heavy right hands until Johnson was dropped a second time and referee Kevin MacDonald stepped in. The official time of the stoppage was 3:20 into Round 1.S1S2

The result handed Johnson his first professional loss and snapped Almeida's two-fight losing streak, moving his record to 8-3 overall and 4-3 in the UFC. Almeida, a former kickboxing champion, shed tears inside the cage while describing what the win meant to him after his recent defeats. In his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan, he said the pressure of fighting in the top promotion in the world is significant and that he hopes to stay in the sport for a long time.S1S2