Anthony Wint needed 11 days to go from regional MMA prospect to UFC winner. Eight years after playing two games as a New York Jets linebacker and spending most of the 2018 season on their practice squad, the 31-year-old heavyweight submitted Terrance Chatman via arm-triangle choke at 4:29 of the first round Saturday night at UFC Fight Night in Sacramento, his UFC debut, arriving almost immediately after he won his contract.
On August 12, Wint demolished Matt Adams in 34 seconds on Dana White's Contender Series, earning a UFC deal on the spot.
Rather than wait for a marquee spot, he demanded the Sacramento card. "I said, we're making our call to be on the Islam card, and if they say no to that, they better put me on Sacramento because I'm not going home." They put him on Sacramento.
He improved to 8-0 with his fourth consecutive first-round finish. Chatman refused to tap out and was choked unconscious.
Wint's post-fight message to the UFC heavyweight division was brief: "I tell ya what, y'all in trouble. Boy, y'all in trouble. Y'all let me in here."
He went from NFL practice squad to Jets reserve to CFL to MMA to the UFC in eight years. The UFC heavyweight division has been warned.