Vick cracks Duffy with uppercut for buzzer-beating TKO

James Vick punched his ticket to a top-10 opponent Saturday, and he did it emphatically.

With seconds remaining in the second round, the lanky lightweight sent Joe Duffy to the canvas with a counter right uppercut before raining follow-up punches for the buzzer-beating stoppage at the 4:59 mark of UFC 217's featured preliminary bout at Madison Square Garden.

Vick cut a promo that nearly trumped his third consecutive stoppage during his postfight interview, deeming his solid promotional record of 8-1 worthy of a headlining spot against a top-tier foe on the UFC's February visit to Austin in his home state of Texas.

Round 1 saw Duffy take the center of the cage, keep an active jab, and bounce in and out of the pocket to score points while the lankier Vick let kicks fly. A pair of well-timed takedowns put the Irishman ahead on the scorecards heading into the middle stanza.

"Irish Joe" had a much rougher go of finding a home for his mitts in the second, as Vick kept him on the end of his reach with a variety of strikes from the outside. The 30-year-old didn't fight with any urgency until the waning moments of the frame, as Duffy's ill-advised efforts to step into the pocket were met with a perfectly timed uppercut from Vick that led to the stoppage just one second prior to the round-ending horn.

Duffy sees a two-fight win streak snapped and his UFC record fall to 4-2 in the first fight of the seven-bout deal he signed to remain with the promotion earlier this year.