At the end of the second round of his UFC on FUEL 6 matchup, Thiago Silva appeared to be in big trouble. He was knocked down by an overhand right and endured a series of heavy strikes as opponent Stanislav Nedkov looked to finish him. But Silva was saved by the bell, and in the end, it was Nedkov that was the worse for wear afterward.
Nedkov was out of gas, and Silva capitalized in the third by picking him apart with some strikes, then took Nedkov down and quickly transitioned to a fight-ending arm triangle choke.
The finish came at 1:45 of the round.
Until then, the most significant offense Silva had landed during the fight came in the form of leg kicks that had Nedkov’s left leg bruising.
It was Nedkov though that seemed to be getting the better of the fight. Though the fight didn’t have any real fireworks prior to the knockdown, Nedkov used his striking to work his way into frequent clinches. As the aggressor, he was likely leading on the judges’ scorecards.
That’s pretty much the way the fight was going until Nedkov came over the top with a right hand that clipped Silva in the jaw, knocking him down. Nedkov expended a ton of energy going for the finish as the round’s final seconds ticked away, but Silva was able to move his head enough to dodge most of the heavy firepower. When the round ended, Nedkov stood up and leaned over with his hands on his knees, and he clearly didn’t recover well in between rounds, allowing Silva to take over.
It was the first official win for the Brazilian since beating Keith Jardine in August 2009 (a January 2011 win over Brandon Vera was later changed to a no contest after he submitted a fake urine sample). He is now 15-3 with 1 no contest.
The loss marked Nedkov’s fall from the ranks of the unbeaten. He’s now 12-1.