Heavyweight fighter Soa Palelei scored his second consecutive first-round finish as he stopped UFC debutant Ruan Potts with punches from the mount position.
The two clashed on the main card of UFC Fight Night ‘Brown vs Silva’, which was held the U.S Bank Arena in Cincinnati, USA. The main-card was shown live in Australia on Fuel TV and Fox Sports.
36-year “The Hulk”, Palelei came into the contest as the slight underdog and quickly was able to get the contest to the ground. Potts held on to Palelei’s head from the bottom and was able to sweep before Palelei regained the top position. Potts attempted a triangle-choke from the bottom but Perth based Palelei, brushed it aside and moved to mount. From there he landed a short-left that knocked his opponent out cold. The referee halted the fight only 2:20 into the fight.
Palelei wished mothers around the world a Happy Mothers Day before giving Potts some credit. “He’s a tough opponent. Anyone that fights in the UFC is tough,” Palelei said. The win takes Palelei’s career record to 21-3. Since returning back into the UFC, Palelei has now won three fights in a row to take his UFC record to 3-1. The win was also his eleventh in a row, with his last defeat coming at the hands of Daniel Cormier back in 2010.
A former Extreme Fighting Championship Africa heavyweight champion, South African Potts drops his career record to 8-2.
Former TUF Smashes contestant Ben Wall lost his second-straight fight in the UFC as he was stopped by 32 year-old Justin Salas in the opening round. The two fought on the preliminary portion of the card, shown live on UFC Fight Pass.
Wall showed great takedown defense early, stopping numerous attempts as he stalked Salas around the cage looking to close the distance. In close distance though, Salas landed a right that got over the defense and rocked the Brisbane based fighter. As Wall attempted to regain his legs, a straight left from Salas dropped him. Wall attempted to regain himself, but further shots from Salas forced the referee to halt the contest.
The win for Salas came only 2:41 into the fight as the Grudge Training Center fighter moved his career record to 12-5, UFC 3-2. Wall will now be in serious danger of being cut as he falls to 7-2, 1 draw (UFC 0-2).
The main event bout between Matt Brown and Erick Silva will go down as both a “Fight of the Year” and “Comeback of the Year” contender as home-crowd favourite Brown overcame multiple kicks and punches to an injured mid-section to come-back and put-away Brazilian fighter Erick Silva. The end came 2:11 into the third-round. In the co-main event Costas Philipou got himself back on track with a first-round stoppage over Lorenz Larkin.
Main Card Results (Fox Sports):
- Matt Brown def Erick Silva via TKO (Punches), Rd 3, 2:11
- Costas Philippou def Lorenz Larkin via KO (Punches), Rd 1, 3:47
- Daron Cruickshank def Erik Koch via TKO (Head-Kick & Punches), Rd 1, 3:21
- Neil Magny def Tim Means via Decision (Unanimous)
- Soa Palelei def Ruan Potts via KO (Punch), Rd 1, 2:20
- Chris Cariaso def Louis Smolka via Decision (Split)
Preliminary Card Results (Fuel TV):
- Ed Herman def Rafael Natal via Decision (Unanimous)
- Kyoji Horiguchi def Darrell Montague via Decision (Unanimous)
- Zak Cummings def Yan Cabral via Decision (Unanimous)
- Johnny Eduardo def Eddie Wineland via KO (Punches), Rd 1, 4:37
Preliminary Card Results (UFC Fight Pass):
- Nik Lentz def Manny Gamburyan via Decision (Unanimous)
- Justin Salas def Ben Wall via KO (Punches), Rd 1, 2:21
- Albert Tumenov def Anthony Lapsley via KO (Punch), Rd 1, 3:56
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