After a six-week sabbatical that promotion officials would probably like to forget, the UFC was welcomed back into action on Saturday night by the delirious roars of Swedish fight fans packing Stockholm’s sold-out Ericsson Globe Arena to witness UFC on FUEL 2.
With a card sporting six submission finishes and two very, very violent knockouts, one would be hard-pressed to say the Nordic debut was anything but a success. Yet budding hometown hero Alexander Gustafsson still found a way to send the crowd off right, outclassing Thiago Silva over three rounds to take a clear-cut judges’ decision and cement his place in the upper-echelon of the UFC’s light heavyweight division.
As always, as the spectacle unfolded, a flood of professional fighters from across the world chirped in via Twitter to offer their thoughts on the event.
GUSTAFSSON MAULS SILVA
Huge congratz to Alex!!!! U looked like a beast!!! fb.me/1LPVwkhXP
— Brandon Vera (@Verafied) April 14, 2012
@AlexTheMauler making violence so pretty!! Great job
— Ross Pearson (@RossTheRealDeal) April 14, 2012
Lots of people think I’m Thiago Silva. Lol
— Thiago Alves. (@ThiagoAlvesATT) April 14, 2012
I thought all main events were 5 rounds now? Did it change?
— michael (@bisping) April 14, 2012
BRIAN STANN IS HIS OWN REFEREE
Very classy win by my boy @BrianStannthat was great for our sport..FOLLOW HIM!!!
— Jon Bones Jones (@JonnyBones) April 14, 2012
Congratz to @BrianStann on the ko over a very game opponent!! Your hard work paid off bro! #finisher!!
— Douglas Lima (@PhenomLima) April 14, 2012
That’s what I thought but I can’t pick against my friends. 🙁 Sakara doesn’t react very well to taking big shots. 🙁
— Yves Edwards (@thugjitsumaster) April 14, 2012
Brian Stann is a class act.
— Mark Hominick (@MarkHominick) April 14, 2012
THE DAZZLING DEBUT OF SIYAR THE GREAT
WOW @ufc
— Tom Lawlor (@FilthyTomLawlor) April 14, 2012
Feel bad for Paulo Thiago. He didn’t even get to perform after a two month fight camp. #fightersympathy
— Aaron Riley (@aaronrileymma) April 14, 2012
Damn son. #Siyar #UFConFUEL
— Jason High (@KCBanditMMA) April 14, 2012
POST-FIGHT REFLECTIONS
Thanks all u guys for the support! last night was amazing! Best team in the world @sthlmshoot @AllianceMMA @BadBoyMMA love u guys!!
— Alexander Gustafsson (@AlexTheMauler) April 15, 2012
I hope u liked the KO! Let’s discuss who I should fight next?! Please RT!
— Siyar Bahadurzada (@SiyarTheKiller) April 14, 2012
Thanks to everyone for their support for this fight, this has been the most difficult of my career (cont) tl.gd/gvjq62
— Brian Stann (@BrianStann) April 15, 2012
Hats off @johntheone he was better man tonight. $ well deserved
— DaMarques Johnson (@DaMarques_UFC) April 14, 2012
Hey everyone. Thanks for the love. Regardless if I took the fight on 12 days notice or not, Cyrille was the better man tonight. I’ll be back
— Tom DeBlass (@TomDeBlass) April 14, 2012
Thanks for all your support it means so much to me, big love #GypsyJiuJitsu
— John Maguire (@MaguireTheOne) April 14, 2012