Dan Ige suffers first stoppage loss after spinning back kick from Melquizael Costa at UFC Houston

Melquizael Costa picked up the biggest win of his career on Saturday night.

‘The Dalmatian’ squared off against perennial featherweight contender Dan Ige at UFC Houston.

Melquizael Costa entered the fight unranked, but with a ton of hype after scoring a head kick knockout win over Morgan Charrière at UFC Vegas 112 in December.

The 29-year-old proved he’s the real deal by pulling off an even more impressive KO at the Toyota Center in Texas.

Melquizael Costa KO’s Dan Ige

Dan Ige closed the distance and got an early takedown at the start of round one.

Commentators Michael Bisping and Paul Felder praised his UFC Houston game plan.

It temporarily took away Melquizael Costa’s greatest strength, which is his kicking game.

However, it didn’t take long for Costa to create some space and use Ige’s forward pressure against him.

The Brazilian fan favorite backed up to the fence before exploding into a spinning back kick.

Ige dropped to the floor after it landed flush on his chin, but he wasn’t knocked out cold.

Costa needed to land a bunch of follow-up strikes before the referee waved off the fight.