A Canadian fighter nicknamed 'The Monster' scored a last-gasp knockout in a remarkable UFC debut to remember

• It was a UFC debut to remember for Chad Anheliger who scored a great knockout Saturday.
• Anheliger stopped Jesse Strader late in the third round after a back-and-forth bantamweight battle.

A Canadian fighter nicknamed "The Monster" scored a last-gasp knockout in a remarkable UFC debut to remember.

Chad Anheliger, a 35-year-old who has fought in regional shows up until a Contender Series decision win last year, fought Jesse Strader in the third of a dozen bouts at a UFC Fight Night event Saturday in Las Vegas.

Anheliger and Strader threw strikes through three rounds of fighting at the Apex studio, and though Strader nailed all three of his takedowns in the opener, by round two Anheliger was beginning to grow confident.

and Anheliger hit Strader so hard he fell to the canvas. There was a straight shot, a kick to the legs, and then hurtful, horrible left hands. It was all too much for Strader.

Anheliger then attacked Strader on the ground, hitting him with punch after punch.

The referee had seen enough — he awarded the UFC debutant a win, and what a win it was for Anheliger.

Watch it all right here:

—ESPN MMA (@espnmma) February 19, 2022

Victory advanced Anheliger's pro MMA record to 12 wins (seven knockouts, three submissions, and two decisions) against five losses.

Elsewhere on the card, Joaquin Buckley and Abdul Razak Alhassan threw slugs in a three-round war, David Onama knocked out Gabriel Benitez in the middle of an unmissable combination of punches, and Jamahal Hill finished Johnny Walker in brutal, no good, very bad fashion as the American scored one of the best knockouts of the year.

The UFC returns for another Fight Night event at the Apex on February 26, before taking its show to the nearby T-Mobile Arena for UFC 272 — a pay-per-view event broadcast on ESPN.