Stan Dorsainvil was working at Home Depot a week before he made his UFC debut. On Saturday at UFC Sacramento, the undefeated lightweight beat Gauge Young by unanimous decision, and Dana White made sure everyone knew the backstory.
“The guy was selling drills a week ago, you know what I mean?” White told reporters after the event. “And yeah, it’s awesome.”
Dorsainvil stepped in on short notice for an injured Kody Steele, taking the fight against Young, who entered on a two-fight winning streak of his own. All three judges scored it 29-28 for Dorsainvil, pushing his professional record to 5-0.
The 26-year-old, who fights out of the LFA regional circuit, had never competed at the UFC level before Saturday. His most recent outing came in May, a third-round TKO over Dan Holt at LFA 233, and he was still working retail when the call came to replace Steele on the UFC Sacramento card at Golden 1 Center.
Young, who has now dropped to 11-4, was coming off back-to-back wins over Maheshate and Thiago Moises. His step up in competition instead handed an unknown quantity in Dorsainvil the platform to make an immediate impression in his first Octagon appearance.
Dorsainvil, who goes by “The Drill,” said fighting for the UFC has been part of his plan since he started training in Brazilian jiu-jitsu as a teenager. Saturday’s win puts him on the roster with zero professional losses and a finish rate over his first five fights that already has him drawing early buzz as one of the promotion’s newer lightweight prospects.
