King Green survives early barrage, stops Terrance McKinney at UFC 329

King Green turned a near-disaster into a first-round TKO, stopping Terrance McKinney at 4:59 after a body kick opened the finishing sequence and referee Kerry Hatley stepped in amid follow-up punches. The lightweight bout opened the main card at UFC 329 inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, and it quickly became the kind of volatile fight that can reshape a fighter’s year in a single round.

McKinney came in as the more dangerous fast starter and, at least on paper, the heavier favorite at -148 to Green’s +124. UFC’s pre-fight framing made the risk clear: McKinney had finished 17 of his 18 wins in the first round, a profile built on speed, pressure and immediate pursuit of the finish. Green entered on a three-fight winning streak and had already shown a late-career surge in 2026, with a second-round TKO of Daniel Zellhuber and a first-round submission of Jeremy Stephens adding to a comeback run that has restored his standing at lightweight.

That arc mattered when the fight turned chaotic. Green was under heavy pressure early and looked on the brink before he steadied himself, changed the momentum and forced McKinney backward. Once the body kick landed, Green stayed on the attack and closed the show before the horn, preserving the kind of comeback that is likely to linger in year-end awards conversations as both a Round of the Year and Comeback of the Year contender.

Green framed the result as another step in that resurgence. “I was just getting warmed up,” he said after the fight, and he added that he wanted to compete on the Los Angeles card in September. That next target fits the veteran’s broader revival, one that began after a long career detour through injuries and personal issues following his 2013 arrival from Strikeforce.

For McKinney, the loss reinforced the same volatility that has made him such a dangerous matchmaker’s puzzle. He remains capable of explosive, first-round damage, but Green survived the opening storm and punished the gas tank collapse that has shadowed McKinney’s style. On a 14-fight card headlined by Conor McGregor vs. Max Holloway 2, the opener delivered the kind of abrupt reversal that can change a fighter’s trajectory in under five minutes.