Dustin "The Hanyak" Jacoby (9-8, 7 KO’s) last appearance in the ring was almost a year ago and saw him fight a perfect first round against then-champion Simon Marcus before being forced to retire from the bout due to sustaining a broken forearm while defending a kick.
Ten months and two surgeries later, Jacoby was ready to return to the ring and get his campaign going again. Standing opposite him was newcomer Sean Choice who, coincidentally, also comes from Denver, where he trains under the UFC’s Matt Brown.
All through fight week, Jacoby gave off energy in volumes sufficient to heat a skyscraper. Never has a dog strained harder at its leash than Jacoby did in the days and weeks which led up to his returning to the ring.
Choice was clearly going to be in for a hard night, an impression underlined by the difference in size between them when they faced off at the weigh ins. Jacoby looked enormous but lean, clearly in the best shape of his life.
Sure enough, Jacoby went to work the second he was let off the leash. Choice was walked down and placed under pressure from the outset, an intense but careful Jacoby placing hard shots with precision.
He scored his first knockdown ninety seconds into the fight, backing Choice into a corner and battering him with punches, the last of which sent him to the canvas for his first referee count.
On the restart Jacoby got right back in Choice’s face and bullied him across the ring into an opposite corner, where he threw some punches then flowed into a slick switch-knee, the right knee strike being pulled back and providing power for a left knee to land on Choice’s jaw and drop him for a second time.
Choice beat the count but a finish was inevitable and with just one more knockdown needed to end the fight under the ‘three knockdown’ rule, Jacoby knew victory was near.
Here he demonstrated his experience though; instead of going wild, he went after Choice with the same careful precision he had used at the start. Choice dropped his mouthguard from his mouth and bough some seconds as the referee had his corner reset it, but those seconds merely delayed the inevitable.
Choice found himself moving backwards against an advancing Jacoby, who suddenly leapt airwards into a jumping knee. Choice ate the knee full force and collapsed into a corner, down for the third time and ending the fight in just over two minutes.
Dustin Jacoby is back.
Dustin Jacoby def. Sean Choice, TKO, R1 2:18
