UFC: 120-kg Chris Barnett KOs opponent with wheel kick, does backflip to celebrate; WATCH

Chris Barnett won his UFC 268 heavyweight clash against veteran Gian Villante by a technical knockout (TKO) on Saturday. Barnett won the match in the second round as he produced a superb wheel kick to send Villante crashing down on the floor before landing back-to-back blows on his face. The referee was forced to intervene and stop the fight, handing Barnett the victory. Barnett then celebrated his UFC 268 win with an amazing flip that saw him land on his backside. However, what grabbed everyone's attention was the perfect execution of the wheel kick, which is rare to see in a heavyweight clash. 

Reactions

The video of Barnett's brilliant wheel kick and his flip to celebrate the victory is now doing rounds on various social media platforms. Several fans and MMA pundits then turned to social media to laud Barnett for winning the clash against Villante. Some also backed him to have a bright future at UFC. Here's a compilation of posts praising Barnett after Saturday's MMA game at Madison Square Garden in New York.

In the match, both Barnett and Villante exchanged punches to begin the first round but neither of them was able to execute anything solid. The second round started with both fighters looking to counter each other but at the 2:23 mark, Barnett came up with his mind-boggling wheel kick to put Villante on his knees. Barnett then cornered Villante from the top and landed several punches on his face from both hands. 

As far as Villante is concerned, the American mixed martial artist had announced before his fight against Barnett that he would retire from the sport after the UFC 268 clash on Saturday. Villante had joined the UFC banner in 2013 and has some notable wins to his name, including victories over Corey Anderson Ed Herman, and Sean O’Connell.

Image: UFC/Twitter