It was a night where the Brazilians cruised and ended up placing three of the four fighters who eventually earned UFC post-fight bonuses at UFC on FX 8. Lucas Martins and Jeremy Larsen earned Fight of the Night for their preliminary card action, Ronaldo Souza claimed Submission of the Night with his first-round finish of Chris Camozzi and Vitor Belfort left the UFC no choice but to award him Knockout of the Night with his stunning victory over former Strikeforce middleweight champion Luke Rockhold.
UFC announced the awards on Twitter on Saturday evening. UFC on FX 8 took place at the Arena Jaragua in Jaragua do Sol, Brazil.
Martins, 24, and Larsen, 27, put on an entertaining affair, although most observers believed Martins to be on the losing end of an inevitable decision before a short right hand cracked Larsen and ultimately put him to sleep before the final bell could sound. The end came officially at :013 of the third frame. Martins moves to 13-1 in professional mixed martial arts while Larsen is now 8-4.
‘Jacare’, 33, looked impressive in his UFC debut as he easily dispatched with Chirs Camozzi with a head and arm triangle submission at 3:37 of the first frame. The former Strikeforce middleweight champion used his superior wrestling and top control and to pass to side control and secure the requisite grip before Camozzi was left unconscious.
Last, but certainly not least, Vitor Belfort, 36, scored an early candidate for knockout of the year when he stopped Luke Rockhold, 28, with a spinning heel kick in the first round of their main event bout. After a bit of feeling out between the two and Rockhold attempting a spinning back kick of his own, Belfort eventually responded with an enormous and entirely unobstructed heel kick to the jaw of Rockhold, sending the former Strikeforce champ crashing to the mat. A few follow-up punches from Belfort finished the job. Referee Leon Roberts was forced to stop the action at 2:32 in the very first round.