TORONTO — In his first UFC tenure, Vinny Magalhaes flamed out, losing back-to-back matches and being released. Afterward, he admitted that he just wasn’t ready to compete on the sport’s biggest stage. Apparently, he’s ready now.
The Brazilian jiu-jitsu wizard returned to the octagon in style, using a rolling armbar to force Igor Pokrajac to tap out.
The finish came at 1:14 of the second round of the UFC 152 prelim.
Magalhaes had threatened with submissions previously, hunting a first-round armbar and then a second round triangle choke before closing out the show. Magalhaes was positioned against the fence but managed to roll Pokrajac over and got an instant tap.
It was the sixth straight win for Magalhaes, the former M-1 light-heavyweight champion who vacated his belt to come to the UFC. He improved to 10-5 with 1 no contest.
Pokrajac had come into the fight on a three-fight win streak. That’s now history as he falls to 25-9.
Prior to the fight, Pokrajac had only one submission loss in his nine-year career.