Marc-Andre Barriault kicked off Saturday’s UFC 260 event with his first promotional victory and stoppage.
The Canadian middleweight overcame a tough first round in the event’s first fight of the night against Abu Azaitar, but he began to steal momentum as the bout progressed. Barriault fully took over in the third round, hurting, mounting and absolutely overwhelming Azaitar.
Referee Jerin Valel could have stopped the fight on multiple occasions and eventually did for the TKO at the 4:56 mark of the third round.
Barriault lost his first three octagon appearances before picking up a TKO win over Oskar Piechota this past June, but his win was overturned after testing positive for ostarine, and he subsequently suspended for six-months by the United States Anti-Doping Agency.
Azaitar snapped his 10-fight unbeaten streak with the loss. It was his first fight since July 2018, when he picked up a unanimous decision victory over Vitor Miranda at UFC Fight Night 134 in July 2018.
