BOSTON – Islam Makhachev’s welcome-back present for Gleison Tibau wasn’t a very nice one.

Makhachev (15-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) knocked out Tibau (33-13 MMA, 16-11 UFC) quickly into the first round with a left hand that was right on the money, putting a quick end to Tibau’s first fight in more than two years.

The lightweight bout opened up the preliminary card of today’s UFC 220 event at TD Garden in Boston. It streamed on UFC Fight Pass ahead of additional prelims on FS1 and a main card on pay-per-view.

Makhachev kicked high up the middle 20 seconds in and just missed. The two continued to feel each other out looking for openings, and when Makhachev found his, he found it in a major, major way.

He faked a right hand, then came right behind it with a left that was on the button and dropped Tibau to the canvas. It was Makhachev’s first actual punch of the fight.

He followed the Brazilian to the mat and dropped a couple extra punches down before referee Dan Miragliotta was able to get in and shut things down just 57 seconds into the fight. The knockout finish was his first finish with his hands since the third fight of his career, in Russia, in 2011.

“Gleison is a tough opponent,” Makhachev said. “This is the UFC, with small gloves. One punch and I can lose – but today I won. Gleison Tibau is a legend and I respect him very much. He has a lot of fights in the UFC. He’s beat a lot of tough guys.

“In the top 15, there are a lot of bum opponents. I think the No. 1 bum opponent is Kevin Lee. UFC, give me Kevin Lee.”

The win was the third straight for Makhachev, who himself was returning after nearly a year away from the cage. The loss for Tibau was his third straight.

Up-to-the-minute UFC 220 results include:

• Islam Makhachev def. Gleison Tibau via knockout (punch) – Round 1, 0:57

For complete coverage of UFC 220, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

(MMAjunkie’s Ken Hathaway contributed to this report on site in Boston.)