The Chechen-born Chimaev utterly overpowered Northern Ireland's Rhys McKee in their welterweight bout on the main card on Yas Island, earning a TKO win with a ground-and-pound assault at 3 minutes and 9 seconds of the first round.

Such was Chimaev's dominance that he landed 68 strikes to McKee's none.

It earned Chimaev, 26, a $50,000 Performance-of-the-Night bonus, but also a place in the UFC history books for recording the shortest ever period between victories in the modern era of the promotion, coming just 10 days after he defeated UK fighter John Phillips in similarly destructive fashion on Fight Island, on that occasion at middleweight.

"Fighting is fighting. I do sparring every day. This is like sparring for me. History is history, what can I say?" said Chimaev, who fights out of Sweden and now stands 8-0 in his career, having finished each of his opponents.

For many observers, Fight Island has given birth to a very special prospect who has set multiple divisions on notice, and has perhaps inevitably earned Chimaev comparisons with Dagestani destroyer and unbeaten lightweight king Khabib Nurmagomedov.

"Wow, who in the world is Khamzat Chimaev? This dude right here just smashing dudes. Two of 'em in a week," wrote former two-weight champ and Khabib training partner Daniel Cormier.    

Number one-ranked welterweight contender Gilbert Burns was similarly impressed, saying that Chimaev looked very much like a problem. 

Sweden's Alexander Gustafsson suffered a first-round defeat on his return to the octagon on Saturday night in a heavyweight contest against Fabricio Werdum, but found the time to hail his teammate Chimaev, with whom he trains at the Alllstars gym in Stockholm, warning that he was "coming for everyone."