UFC 134 results: Brazilians reign supreme

By Case Keefer (contact)

Saturday, Aug. 27, 2011 | 10 p.m.

UFC President Dana White said the noise in Rio de Janeiro’s HSBC Arena Saturday was the loudest he had heard at one of the company’s events.

The sell-out crowd had a major cause for celebration. Brazilian fighters went 6-1 in seven bouts against foreign competitors.

All three Brazilian headliners were victorious by knockout, including middleweight champion Anderson Silva, who stopped Yushin Okami 2:04 into the second round.

“I’m here to fight,” Silva said in his post-fight interview on the pay-per-view broadcast. “I’m so happy.”

Silva (31-4 MMA, 14-0 UFC) loosened up about six minutes into the fight and baited Okami (26-6 MMA, 10-3 UFC) to attack by dropping his hands to his side. He first dropped Okami with a jab to the chin, but the Japanese veteran was able to get back to his feet.

Not for long, though. Silva hurt Okami with a kick to the body and sent him crashing to the mat with a right hook before ending the fight with a few more strikes.

It was a record ninth straight title defense for Silva. Chances are Silva was just as happy for his mentor and training partner, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, who upset Brendan Schaub in a featured heavyweight bout.

The veteran Nogueira (33-6-1 MMA, 4-2 UFC) stunted the rise of Schaub (9-2 MMA, 4-2 UFC) by knocking the former NFL player out 3:09 into the first round.

Nogueira, who owns a gym less than a mile from the arena, won for the first time in almost exactly two years. He confirmed suspicions that he appeared sooner than advised after a knee injury to fight in front of his home country.

“I had surgeries in both knees, so I just sacrificed because I had never fought at home,” Nogueira said. “It was my fight No. 40 and first time in Brazil. I fought because the UFC came to Brazil.”

Mauricio “Shogun” Rua also rushed back to action for the opportunity to scrap in Brazil. Days after Jon Jones took his light heavyweight title in March, Rua asked the UFC for a Rio booking.

The promotion consented with Forrest Griffin. Shogun knocked Griffin out less than two minutes into the fight to avenge a 2007 loss that came in his UFC debut.

“Forrest is a good fighter,” Rua said through a translator. “I expected a tough fight, but I trained hard for three months.”

Shogun (20-5 MMA, 4-3 UFC) bashed Griffin (18-7 MMA, 9-5 UFC) unconscious with a series of hammer fists.

Two of the lengthier Brazilian victories belonged to middleweight Rousimar Palhares and lightweight Edson Barboza.

Palhares (13-3 MMA, 6-2 UFC) destroyed Dan Miller (13-6 MMA, 5-5 UFC) so badly that he prematurely celebrated in the first round thinking the fight was over. The referee never stopped the bout, however, so Palhares had to settle for a unanimous decision win over Miller by scores of 30-27, 30-25 and 29-28.

In an action-packed stand-up battle that won Fight of the Night honors, Barboza scored a split decision victory over “The Ultimate Fighter” season 9 winner Ross Pearson. Two judges scored it 29-28 in favor of Barboza (9-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC), while third flipped it in favor of Pearson (14-5 MMA, 4-2 UFC).

“In each fight, we take a step up in the UFC ladder and each fight we get better,” Barboza said through a translator. “I just want more. I want to go up in this category. I want more fights.”

The only Brazilian who lost to someone from outside of their country was Luiz Cane (12-4-1 MMA, 4-4 UFC), who succumbed to a knockout defeat against Stanislav Nedkov (12-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC).

Check below for full results from the UFC 134 preliminary card.

Thiago Tavares beat Spencer Fisher via TKO at 2:51 of the second round in their lightweight bout. Tavares took Fisher down repeatedly before finishing him with ground-and-pound.

Welterweight Paulo Thiago defeated David Mitchell by unanimous decision. All three judges gave every round to Thiago.

Raphael Assuncao was successful in his bantamweight debut against Rio local Johnny Eduardo. Assuncao won a unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) over Eduardo.

Erick Silva knocked out Luis Ramos 40 seconds into the fight. The welterweight prospect who trains under Anderson Silva and the Nogueira brothers floored Ramos with an overhand right.

In featherweight action, Yuri Alcantara defeated Felipe Arantes via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28).

Yves Jabouin won a split decision over Ian Loveland in their bantamweight bout by scores of 29-28, 29-28 and 27-30.

Case Keefer can be reached at 948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.