After slogging through a record-tying eight straight decisions, UFC on FUEL 8 was in dire need of a shot in the arm. Luckily, Mark Hunt and Wanderlei Silva delivered just that.
As the ghosts of Pride Fighting Championships surged through Japan’s Saitama Super Arena, Hunt ferociously revived the card, shattering Stefan Struve’s jaw with a third-round left hook to secure his fourth straight victory and thrust his name into title contention.
Then came Silva. “The Axe Murderer” and Brian Stann engaged in an early ‘Fight of the Year’ candidate, punctuated by Silva separating the American from consciousness with a vintage combination midway through the second round. At 36 years old, Silva would’ve heard calls for his retirement had the night ended poorly. But instead the legend arrived with his trademark brand of violence in tow, providing a fitting conclusion for a throwback night.
Holy shit Wanderlei looked good 2 night!!!!
— Dana White (@danawhite) March 3, 2013
Amazing fight and beautiful knockout congratulations @wandfc
— juniorcigano (@junior_cigano) March 3, 2013
Wow, that was an insane, spectacular thing of beauty @wandfc. What a great, great fight by a great warrior.
— Bjorn Rebney (@BjornRebney) March 3, 2013
crazy……….
— Chan Sung Jung (@KoreanZombieMMA) March 3, 2013
Hell yeah !!!!!
— Edward Alvarez (@Ealvarezfight) March 3, 2013
So Happy 4 Wand and sad for Brian , but In a sport where putting on ur time means everything, Wand finds his Glory tonight !
— Edward Alvarez (@Ealvarezfight) March 3, 2013
Good to see @wandfc go out with a win. Good night of fights!
— Costas Philippou (@Philippou185UFC) March 3, 2013
Wow! Congratulations to #WAND
— Cung Le (@CungLe185) March 3, 2013
wandy and japan go together like peanut butter and jam#samuraiwarrior @ufc
— Andy Ogle (@thelittleaxe) March 3, 2013
Wow, big finish to an awesome fight! Please retire on a high note Wandy.
— Aaron Riley (@aaronrileymma) March 3, 2013
After the career Wand had in Japan the fight Gods owed him that.That was beautiful!
— Chris Clements(@menaceclements) March 3, 2013
Lindooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo @wandfc
— Antonio Pezao Silva (@BigfootSilva) March 3, 2013
@brianstann youre my Man you always fight hard!
— Erik Goyito Perez (@Goyito_Perez) March 3, 2013
Gutted for Brian stann.
— michael (@bisping) March 3, 2013
Feels good to see wanderlei looking like the old wanderlei silva #UFConFuelTv8 #epic #greatfight @danawhite @ufc @ufconfox
— Steven Siler (@Stevesiler) March 3, 2013
Wanderlei gave his best effort I’ve seen in years. Truly inspiring … Awesome win! #UFConFuel8 @ufc #AxeMurderer
— TJ Grant (@TJ_Grant) March 3, 2013
PRIDE NEVER DIE!!!!!! Awesome fight!!! @ufc
— Vinny Magalhaes (@VinnyMMA) March 3, 2013
— Ronaldo Jacaré (@JacareMMA) March 3, 2013
Hell yeah wandy!!!
— Erik Jon Koch (@NEWBREED04) March 3, 2013
the legend is still alive !!! DAMN !!!! #WAND !!!!!!! #ufcjapan
— patrick cote (@patrick_cote) March 3, 2013
Holy shit. HOLY SHIT. Wanderlei Silva is the man bro. Damn. #FOTN #KOTN #FUELTV8
— Jason Highwalker(@KCBanditMMA) March 3, 2013
Wow! What a fight! What a finish!
— Louis Gaudinot (@LouGaudinotUFC) March 3, 2013
Congratulations @wandfc for this great win!
— Daniel Sarafian (@danielsarafian) March 3, 2013
Wanderley Silva with on of the best entrance to the Octagon at UFC and one of the best finish too 🙂
— gabriel gonzaga(@gonzagabjj) March 3, 2013
INSANE!
— Krzysztof Soszynski (@KSOSufc) March 3, 2013
Congrats to @wandfc @ufc awesome finish
— Roy Nelson (@roynelsonmma) March 3, 2013
And that was some classic wanderlei silva. Nice ko 🙂
— Nam Phan (@NamPhanMMA) March 3, 2013
MARK HUNT SMASH
Holy shit Mark Hunt!!!!!!!
— Dana White (@danawhite) March 3, 2013
Mark hunt is the man!
— michael (@bisping) March 3, 2013
. @markhunt1974 is my IDOL!!! #PrideNeverDie
— Vinny Magalhaes (@VinnyMMA) March 3, 2013
What a KO by Mark Hunt! The former K1 champ pulls it off! Thunder!!!
— Cung Le (@CungLe185) March 3, 2013
Wowwwwwwwww congratulation @markhunt1974
— Antonio Pezao Silva (@BigfootSilva) March 3, 2013
@markhunt1974 awesome job!! KO all the way!! @ufc
— Chris Leben (@cripplerufc) March 3, 2013
That’ll happen if you stand in front of Mark Hunt for too long. #FUELTV8
— Jason Highwalker(@KCBanditMMA) March 3, 2013
Mark Hunt!! He does it again! #UFConFuel8 @ufc
— TJ Grant (@TJ_Grant) March 3, 2013
Wow nice proformance by the SUPER SAMOAN mark hunt 🙂
— Nam Phan (@NamPhanMMA) March 3, 2013
Mark hunt is the man!!!
— Ross Pearson (@RossTheRealDeal) March 3, 2013
What the hell u doin standing with mark hunt?
— Chris Clements(@menaceclements) March 3, 2013
Screaming at the tv pull guard, pull guard, to save poor struve congrats to @markhunt1974 #fb @mmaelite_alden
— Roy Nelson (@roynelsonmma) March 3, 2013
Love the walk away KO !
— Louis Gaudinot (@LouGaudinotUFC) March 3, 2013
Great fight by @markhunt1974 !! Warrior heart as always from struve!!
— Travis Browne (@travisbrowneMMA) March 3, 2013
Wow not surprised that punch broke his jaw #rallyformarkhunt
— Ramsey Nijem (@RamseyNijem) March 3, 2013
I swear, @markhunt1974 has the best interview answers ever!
— Brad Tavares (@BradTavares) March 3, 2013
— Joseph Benavidez (@JoeJitsu) March 3, 2013
— Joseph Benavidez (@JoeJitsu) March 3, 2013
Thanks for the support everybody, I wanted Herb to take the tooth out of my cheek and continue but then it turned out my jaw was broken..
— Stefan Struve (@StefanStruve) March 3, 2013
SANCHEZ EDGES GOMI
How the fuck did Diego win that fight!? Crazy shit
— Dana White (@danawhite) March 3, 2013
Man if Diego won the fight backing up why couldn’t I?!?!
— Ulysses Gomez (@uselessgomez) March 3, 2013
@diegosanchezufcwhat happened?! You used to move straight forward and crush guys. Too much Greg Jackson i think
— Chris Leben (@cripplerufc) March 3, 2013
I kinda thought gomi won that fight 🙁
— Nam Phan (@NamPhanMMA) March 3, 2013
Gomi 29-28 im my opinion. Would you agree? #PrideNeverDie
— Vinny Magalhaes (@VinnyMMA) March 3, 2013
Whatever… I thought Gomi won… No need to call out the judges, they never know what they’re doing anyways…
— Vinny Magalhaes (@VinnyMMA) March 3, 2013
that wasn’t the same diego sanchez as the venumous fighter that fought clay guida back in 09. definate ring rust
— Andy Ogle (@thelittleaxe) March 3, 2013
GOMI get robbed..Japanese fighters can’t beat wrestlers even in Japan…amazing #robbery #crime
— Brian Rogers (@BRogthePredator) March 3, 2013
LOL! WTF!
— Krzysztof Soszynski (@KSOSufc) March 3, 2013
Sanchez is one of the toughest guys out there when he is in a dog fight but when he fights a technical slow fight he seems to over think it
— Chris Clements(@menaceclements) March 3, 2013
Bad call!
— Louis Gaudinot (@LouGaudinotUFC) March 3, 2013
Another split dec at #UFConFuelTv8 can’t see how the judges are seeing these fights thought gomi clearly won that won
— Steven Siler (@Stevesiler) March 3, 2013
THUNDER OVERCOMES LIGHTNING
Good 3rd round from Hector but Okami put it on him for first 2…
— Costas Philippou (@Philippou185UFC) March 3, 2013
shocked with all the split decisions on #UFConFuelTv8 a lot of close fights, Lombard/okami wasn’t one of the close fights tho #horribledec
— Steven Siler (@Stevesiler) March 3, 2013
Okami out there pulling guard like there’s a “pulling guard of the night bonus” #UFConFUEL
— Derek Brunson (@DerekBrunsonMMA) March 3, 2013
Which judge gave the fight to hector? Jeez judges pay attention
— Ramsey Nijem (@RamseyNijem) March 3, 2013
the difference in lombard and okami’s bodies is insane. okami dwarfes lombard in height and reach but lombard is as wide as tall
— Andy Ogle (@thelittleaxe) March 3, 2013
Those muscles need loads of Oxygen…
— Akira Corassani (@AkiraCorassani) March 3, 2013
Wow I really thought Hector wrestling was better than this.
— Ben Askren (@Benaskren) March 3, 2013
Okami is a beast!!!
— Krzysztof Soszynski (@KSOSufc) March 3, 2013
Anyone think Lombard will be on the chopping block? 1-2 in his past 3 fights and he costs a lot of sweet mullah.
— Ulysses Gomez (@uselessgomez) March 3, 2013
Hahaha so okami has called me out. I’m real popular at the moment. Get to the back of the queue.
— michael (@bisping) March 3, 2013
MATURITY AT ITS FINEST
DONG is really pounding away in there! #UFConFuel8
— Joseph Benavidez (@JoeJitsu) March 3, 2013
This is just too much Dong for Bahadurzada to handle.
— Daniel Downes (@dannyboydownes) March 3, 2013
Siyar needs to reverse this and mount the DONG #UFConFuel8
— Joseph Benavidez (@JoeJitsu) March 3, 2013
@dannyboydownes @travisbrownemma @ikevf I say the more Dong the better. Like, BINDERS full of Dong
— Julie Kedzie (@julesk_fighter) March 3, 2013
And DONG rises to the occasion! DONG Doesn’t finish but at least he didn’t get any blood on him #UFConFuel8
— Joseph Benavidez (@JoeJitsu) March 3, 2013