Uros Medic didn’t just win at UFC Houston. He flipped the conversation around the welterweight division in just 79 seconds. The co-main event was supposed to be a proving ground, a step-up test against a proven name in veteran Geoff Neal. Instead, it became a cold reminder that one clean shot at 170lbs can change the room instantly.
Watch What’s Trending Now!
The setup made sense on paper. Medic walked in with chaos on his side: 12 career wins and a 100% finishing rate inside the Octagon. Neal walked in with experience and a reset mindset. He’d gone public about getting sober ahead of this fight and was over 100 days clean, saying this camp felt different. The matchup felt like the UFC testing whether the Serbian’s highlight-reel style could hold up against a veteran who had traded with the division’s best. What nobody predicted was how fast the answer would come.
From the opening seconds, Medic took the center and made Neal react. Front kicks to the body. A quick exchange of hooks. Then the left hand landed right on the temple, and Neal went down. The commentators and crowd at Houston’s Toyota Center gasped alongside a chorus of “Ohs!”
Neal was out cold, and the official time was 1:19 of Round 1. That’s three straight first-round finishes for Medic since moving to welterweight in 2023. He’s now 13–3 overall, 7–3 in the UFC, and his last three wins at 170 have ended before anyone could settle into their seat.
UROS MEDIC PUTS GEOFF NEAL OUT COLD!!!
OH MY GOODNESS 😳 #UFCHouston pic.twitter.com/ejwbcl5olk
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) February 22, 2026
“Houston, we have a problem, and I am the problem,” ‘The Doctor’ said in his post-fight interview. “This division is in trouble. I am going to knock everybody out and bulldoze through this division. Mark my words.”
He also called his shot at former champion Leon Edwards. After all, you don’t wait for your turn after a 79-second knockout. You ask for the biggest door in the hallway.
Fans left stunned as Uros Medic delivers a thunderous knockout at UFC Houston
One fan wrote, “And they say Ilia is the most dangerous when he comes to WW, when they have guys with bombs and pinpoint precision like Medic, Prates, Morales.” This isn’t really about Ilia Topuria. It’s about the myth that welterweight is just a size-up division for lighter guys. Islam Makhachev recently said the same thing in different words, pointing out that natural 170-pounders like Michael Morales carry a different kind of power. Medic’s KO of Neal adds to that case.
Another fan added, “HE CALLED OUT LEON HE WILL KILL LEONNNNN.” That’s raw hype talking. Edwards just got flatlined by Carlos Prates at UFC 322 and is on a 3-fight losing streak. But he still has name value. It’s a shortcut to relevance, even if the matchup isn’t close to booked.
An impressed viewer chimed in with, “Insane. Didn’t even seem to land completely flush, and he just went down.” This is the part that casual viewers underestimate. Knockouts aren’t always about perfect form. Temple shots shut lights off. The angle matters. Neal didn’t eat a wind-up haymaker. He got clipped in a tight exchange. That’s what makes the finish unsettling. It looked routine until it wasn’t.
Someone else wrote, “Every time a fighter says they made changes, bet on the other guy.” That’s cynical, but it comes from pattern recognition. We hear ‘new camp, new mindset’ almost every fight week. Sometimes it’s real. Sometimes the cage doesn’t care. Neal’s sobriety and improved conditioning are real wins regardless of the result. The takeaway shouldn’t be that change is pointless. It’s that change doesn’t grant immunity.
And finally, one fan shared, “Feel bad for Neal, no need to take damage anymore.” This reaction lands on empathy. Neal has taken hard shots in this division. He’s been honest about his struggles. Seeing him go out cold hits different. The sport doesn’t stop being brutal just because you want a good ending for someone. But fans still feel it when a fighter who’s trying to turn a corner gets caught.
UFC Houston gave people a shock and a storyline. Uros Medic left with a name louder than it was an hour earlier. Neal left with another tough night to carry. That’s the sport in one snapshot. One man’s breakout is another man’s reminder that inside the Octagon, the margin for error is a breath wide.