South Korea’s Ko Seok-hyeon beat Welshman Oban Elliott via a unanimous 30-27 decision at the UFC Fight Night in Baku, Azerbaijan on Saturday.

Ko – making his UFC debut – produced a dominant display featuring several submissions throughout the three rounds, with the 31-year keeping Elliott grounded for long periods.

Elliott, nicknamed ‘The Welsh Gangster’, has now suffered his first defeat since making his UFC debut in February 2024.

He was originally set to fight on 31 May at UFC Fight Night in Las Vegas against Ramiz Brahimaj.

That bout was cancelled because of visa issues, but the UFC moved swiftly to keep the 27-year-old active, rescheduling him for this weekend’s card.

The Welshman entered the contest with a 3-0 UFC record thanks to a knockout win over Bassil Hafez at UFC 309 in November and unanimous decision victories over Preston Parsons and Val Woodburn.

Elliott trained across Europe with some of the sport’s elite fighters to prepare for the bout.

But it was not sufficient against the opponent known as ‘The Korean Tyson’, who came into his UFC debut with an impressive 11-2 record.