Former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Miesha Tate did not need long to sum up Julian Erosa’s farewell at UFC Vegas 123. Tate, who held the UFC bantamweight title in 2016, posted her reaction on X after the 37-year-old featherweight knocked out Lee Jeong-Yeong in the first round of Saturday’s prelims at Meta APEX in Las Vegas.
Tate suggested that this could have been the comeback of the year and lauded Erosa for going out when he was at the top:
“In the running for comeback of the year or what?!! Quite a run @juicyj_erosa congratulations on a great career and going out on top! #ufc @ufc ##ufcfightnight”
Check out Miesha Tate‘s comments below:
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The American earned every word of it. Lee came out swinging and cracked Erosa with a left hook inside the opening seconds, then added right hands that left him stumbling and holding on in the clinch. Erosa got back up and went back to trading punches, and it was Lee who hit the canvas when a counter right hand landed clean. Two follow-up shots on the ground finished it at 1:31 of Round 1.
The result was never guaranteed. Erosa had said in the build-up that this would be his final fight, win, lose or draw, with fatherhood and his long-term health behind the decision.
After the stoppage he took his gloves off and left them in the center of the Octagon, then brought his wife and child in for the celebration.
Julian Erosa fought 19 UFC fights across three separate stints
Few fighters have taken a longer road. Julian Erosa came in through The Ultimate Fighter 22 in 2015, lost to Teruto Ishihara at UFC 196 the following March and was cut from the promotion. He fought his way back onto Dana White‘s Contender Series in 2018, lost three in a row in his second stint and was released again.
The third chance arrived in June 2020, on five days’ notice, against an unbeaten Sean Woodson. Erosa submitted him with a D’Arce choke and then stuck around for six more years, going 10-9 in the UFC, with wins over Woodson, Charles Jourdain and Nate Landwehr.
Edited by Saiyed Adeem Karim
