All the Brazilian ‘Wolverine’ needed was a weight class change. Well, that and four minutes and five seconds to dispose of his opposition and make a successful bantamweight debut.
Hugo Viana, a member of Team Vitor Belfort from season one of The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil, made his bantamweight debut on Saturday at The Ultimate Fighter 16 Finale, easily dispatching of Rueben Duran. Viana is undefeated in the UFC at 2-0, but previously fought at a catchweight of 150 pounds. At bantamweight and despite being much smaller than Duran, Viana was nevertheless able to use his considerable hand speed and knockout power to repeatedly hurt Duran en route to a TKO stoppage.
Through the four minutes of the bout, Viana sent Duran to the canvas four times, all of which came from crushing right hands. Duran hung tough with most of them and was able to resume striking exchanges until the very end of the fight. Duran was barely recovering from being dropped for the third time when he went down again from a lunging power right that not only sent Duran to the canvas, but did so face first and with Duran having a glassy-eyed look.
Here’s MMA Fighting’s Shaun Al-Shatti live play-by-play of the fight:
Round 1: Referee Steve Mazzagatti oversees the action. Viana ducks under a shot and connects with a hard overhand right. Viana wades in with a flurry and Duran drops! Viana relentless, lands another big right hand. Duran gamely staying in there, but Viana is dominant so far. Duran changing strategies, closes the distance and locks up against the fence. Viana reverses and releases out to the center of the cage. Viana pushes forward, pumping his jab. Viana slips a punch and misses with a wild flurry. Another huge overhand right crushes Duran. He drops and Viana swarms. Somehow Duran finds his way back to his feet, only to be blasted once again. Duran crumples on cage floor and Mazzagatti mercifully jumps in.
Hugo Viana def. Reuben Duran via knockout (punch) at 4:05 of round 1.