Anthony Wint stepped into the UFC octagon for the first time on Saturday, and he made it look easy. Still, if there’s one detail that makes the win harder to believe, it’s the timeline: just 11 days after his last fight, the former Jets linebacker turned pro fighter secured a first-round submission, kicking off his UFC career with a statement most debutants can only dream of.

“Ex-Jets LB Anthony Wint wins @ufc debut with first-round submission just 11 days after last fight,” Around The NFL posted on X.

Fighting on Saturday night at UFC Fight Night 285 inside the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, the former New York Jets linebacker turned pro fighter needed only 4:29 of the first round to lock in an arm triangle choke and put away Terrence Chapman, who was also stepping into the octagon for the very first time.

Wint opened the fight by taking center position early, feinting a few times before mixing in a jab to the body and a leg kick, the same leg kick that had served him well in his previous outing. After a bit of a feeling-out process where both men traded jabs, Wint landed another kick and then forced a clinch, using it to take Chapman down to the mat.

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From there he settled into half guard, and Chapman briefly threatened with a Kimura attempt on Wint’s exposed left arm. Wint worked his way free, took a warning from referee Herb Dean for punching to the back of the head, and then suddenly shifted into an arm triangle choke. He cinched it in and let his strength take over. Chapman never tapped. He went unconscious instead, and Dean stepped in to pull Wint off and wave the fight off.

What makes the win stand out isn’t just how it happened, but when. Wint stepped into this fight just 11 days after his last one, a 34-second TKO finish over Matt Adams on Dana White’s Contender Series back on August 11. That performance is what earned him his UFC contract in the first place, and instead of taking time to celebrate, he turned right around and delivered again on the sport’s biggest stage.

After the win, Wint didn’t hold back while talking to Michael Bisping inside the octagon.

“I tell ya what, y’all in trouble,” he said. “Boy, y’all in trouble. Y’all let me in here.”

He wasn’t wrong to sound confident either. The finish moved him to a perfect 8-0 as a pro, and it marked his fourth straight win that ended before the first round was even over. His last three wins had all come by knockout, so the submission was actually a bit of a change of pace for him.

As Wint put it afterward, “It wasn’t the game plan, but we got it done.”

Heading into Saturday, he had finished his previous three opponents in a combined 102 seconds, so the pattern of fast, decisive results was already well established before he even touched gloves with Chapman.

Anthony Wint’s career before he became a UFC fighter

Long before any of this, Wint was chasing a different kind of professional career. He had three years playing excellent football as a linebacker at FIU, where he was awarded second-team All-C-USA in all three years, until he signed for the Jets as an undrafted free agent in 2018.

His career in the NFL was short-lived, lasting only two games but still quite memorable on its own. He made a tackle and caused a fumble in a game against the Green Bay Packers.

Instead of walking away from competitive sports altogether, Wint has found himself involved in mixed martial arts and made his professional MMA debut way back in April 2023.

This has put him among a long list of football players who have made the transition to MMA, which includes names like Greg Hardy, Matt Mitrione, and Ovince Saint Preux, among others.

His UFC debut even came with a nice keepsake attached, since he wore a special UFC Debut Patch that will later be pulled from his gear and turned into a one-of-one trading card through Topps.

Looking ahead, Wint made it clear this is only the beginning. “I’m gonna keep getting better,” he said, and given the pace he’s on, there’s little reason to doubt him.