Sebastian Fundora kept his WBC junior middleweight title Saturday night (Oct. 17, 2026) in Las Vegas by knocking out Ermal Hadribeaj at 2:59 of Round 12. That’s one second from the final bell of a 12-round fight. MMA Mania described the punch as a left hand that came in like a missile, and it ended a fight against an Albanian challenger the outlet called very game.
The finish lit up social media almost as fast as it happened. Ariel Helwani wrote on X, “Wow. Fundora with a literal buzzer beater KO in the 12th. What a stoppage! Unification next.” He followed it less than a minute later with “A Fundora buzzer beater!! Unbelievable.” The fight streamed on DAZN and TNT, and DAZN’s own broadcast account was asking viewers mid-fight who was up on their scorecards. That’s usually a sign the room wasn’t sure.
Hadribeaj had never lost before Saturday. According to MMA Mania, Fundora is the first man to beat him, and the challenger was letting his hands go as early as the end of Round 2. He hung around for 35 minutes and 59 seconds of boxing. Then he ran out of time.
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Where Fundora goes from here
The win stretches Fundora’s run to five straight victories, and four of those were successful title defenses, per MMA Mania. The 154-pound division is split up right now. Jaron Ennis holds the WBA and WBO belts, Josh Kelly holds the IBF title, and Vergil Ortiz Jr. is the WBC interim champion.
The fight everybody wants is Fundora against Ennis, with the winner one step from undisputed. The catch is Kelly. MMA Mania reported there have been talks of Ennis and Kelly fighting at the end of the year, which would put Fundora in line behind that bout. A finish like Saturday’s makes him a lot harder to leave waiting, though, and Helwani calling for unification seconds after the stoppage suggests plenty of people already have him penciled in.
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Ortiz sitting there as interim WBC champ is the other piece. Interim titles have a way of turning into mandatories when a sanctioning body gets tired of waiting, so the Ennis fight might not be as simple as both sides wanting it.
Quick take
I love a fighter who’s still throwing with purpose at 2:58 of Round 12, because that’s cardio and intent showing up exactly when most guys are coasting toward the cards. Anyone who had Hadribeaj by decision in their pocket just learned how long one second can be, and I’ve held enough of those tickets to feel it in my teeth. The knockout also took the judges out of it, which matters in a fight where DAZN was polling its audience on who was ahead. Fundora shouldn’t be stuck watching Ennis and Kelly sort it out at year’s end. Put him in with Boots next.
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