GOIANIA, Brazil — Brandon Thatch impressed once again in the UFC.
Thatch made quick work of Justin Edwards in his first appearance inside the Octagon, and he was matched up against dangerous veteran Paulo Thiago at UFC Fight Night 32 in Goiania, Brazil, on Nov. 9.
Once again, he needed only one round to get the victory.
Thiago had only been finished once in his career, and Thatch forced him to tap after he landed a vicious knee to the body at the 2:10 mark in the opening round.
“I’m pretty good at catching people on my feet,” Thatch said after the fight. “I practice for people shooting at my legs and I throw quick knees, so that’s what I expected.”
“When I hit him with the knee he went like ‘ohhh,’ so I knew I hurt him. You can feel when you hurt someone and I knew he was hurt. I knew it was done, and I felt the referee coming in. I envision wins and I prepare for three rounds, but if the opportunity comes I’ll take it. And I took it this time.”
All of Thatch’s MMA victories have taken place in the first five minutes of the fight, and he knew Thiago would be a dangerous opponent to if he was able to take the fight to the ground.
“I knew he was very dangerous on the ground and he has got powerful shots,” he said. “I got a little sloppier than I wanted with the striking. He was threatening on the ground, so I didn’t want to be there. I knew if he took me down I’d be in trouble, so that’s why I landed that knee when he was shooting.”
Fighting one of Brazil’s most popular fighters in front of his countrymen isn’t an easy task, but Thatch had a strategy to avoid getting nervous with the “death chants” coming from the fans in the arena.
“This is the most intense crowd I’ve ever fought in front of,” he said. “It was crazy and exciting at the same time. Even if the energy was negative, I made it work for me. I just pretended they were cheering for me.”