Heading into this past weekend’s bout between heel-hook specialist Rousimar Palhares and Alan Belcher, many fans were expecting “Toquinho” to walk away with his fifth submission win of his UFC career.
With a 13-4 record going into the bout and having 10 submission wins with six heel-hook victories, Palhares made the claim to being one of the more dangerous submission artists in the UFC. His short and stocky build was also a feature that added to the intimidation factor of his brutal submissions.
Being no stranger to making other black belts tap in the Octagon, Palhares was more than confident in his ability to catch Belcher, but “The Talent” had no intentions of getting caught in something he had been training to avoid throughout his entire camp.
The fight, which aired on the main card of UFC on Fox 3, started with Palhares securing the takedown and trying to lock in the submission. To many fans’ surprise, Belcher escaped and stayed in guard where he established his attack with some brutal ground and pound with elbows and punches.
After a long barrage of strikes landed, the referee jumped in to save Palhares from any more damage, but it was the submission defense of Belcher that impressed everyone.
In this video, Ryron Gracie and Rener Gracie breakdown the submission defense of Belcher, which helped guide him towards stopping Palhares.
They also breakdown the main event, which saw Nate Diaz be the first fighter to finish Jim Miller. After knocking down his opponent in the first round, Diaz was able to take over the fight quickly before submitting Miller in the second round with a guillotine choke.
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