If you tuned into UFC on Fuel 10 on Saturday night, you got to hear Bruce Buffer call out “and the winner by submission” multiple times over the course of the event.
In fact, all but four fights on the card ended via some form of submission. The two bouts headlining the Brazil fight card did not deviate from that pattern, but the light heavyweight scrap that preceded the co-main event sure did.
Thiago Silva and Rafael Cavalcante both possess black belts in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, but neither fighter showed any interest in showcasing their ground skills on Saturday night. Instead, it looked like their only focus was ending the fight with one punch—something that Silva accomplished when he blasted Cavalcante with an uppercut, putting the seemingly gassed former Strikeforce champion down and out in the first round.
Leonardo Santos took home The Ultimate Fighter Brazil: 2 title when he earned a second-round tapout victory over William Macario. Santos, fighting out of Nova Uniao, then leapt from the Octagon in search of teammate, UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo. When Santos found Aldo in the crowd, the two embraced in celebration before Santos returned to the Octagon to have his hand raised in victory.
The main event, somewhat surprisingly, did end in submission. The thinking heading into this fight was that Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belts Fabricio Werdum and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira would be reluctant to take the fight to the ground. Each man knew what the other could accomplish on the mat.
When the fight began, Nogueira wanted to keep the fight standing, but Werdum, the world jiu-jitsu champion, did not. Werdum’s takedowns decided that the fight was going to the mat, where he was able to verbally submit Nogueira.
Check out the video highlights for the three fights that headlined UFC on Fuel 10.
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