Eighteen months ago, Antonio Silva was surging towards the top of the heavyweight division after a stunning knockout of Fedor Emelianenko. But his progress stalled shortly thereafter, with losses to Daniel Cormier and Cain Velasquez. Faced with the possibility that he could be cut with a third straight loss, Silva was in must-win mode heading into his UFC on FX 5 main event with Travis Browne, and he performed like it.
Silva ended his short losing streak with the help of a crushing right hand, as he floored Browne against the fence and then finished with a series of ground strikes en route to a first-round technical knockout.
The official time was 3:27.
Browne got off to a good start, throwing a wide variety of offense early on with front kicks, spinning back fists and other athletic strikes rarely seen from massive heavyweights. But somewhere along the way, it seemed as though Browne injured his left knee. The first sign of that came when Browne tried to throw a punch, his leg buckled and he nearly fell over.
He kept fighting, and actually landed a stinging right hook at one point. But a short time later, Silva backed Browne against the fence and cracked him with a vicious overhand right. Browne went down and Silva landed a series of ground strikes before the ref stepped in.
Browne immediately tried to get up but fell to the ground again before clutching at his left knee. He needed assistance walking out of the cage.
Silva is now 17-4.
The loss was the first in Browne’s pro career, as he fell to 13-1-1.