Belfort headlines UFC 103 by knocking out Franklin

DALLAS — It was a return to remember for Vitor Belfort.

Belfort knocked out Rich Franklin 3:02 into the first round Saturday to win the headline bout of UFC 103 before a rabid, sold-out crowd at American Airlines Center.

Belfort, making his return to the Ultimate Fighting Championship after four years fighting for other organizations, buckled Franklin’s knees with a booming left hand, then swarmed him and delivered three devastating punches to the back of his head before the bout was called.

For Franklin (27-5), a 34-year-old former high school math teacher, it was a disappointing defeat in the 195-pound catchweight bout.

It was the fifth consecutive triumph for Belfort (19-8) and the Brazilian’s third straight knockout.

A former light heavyweight champion who blazed his way through the UFC ranks a decade ago, becoming known as “The Phenom,” Belfort had gone on to fight in other divisions before returning to the UFC.

In the secondary match on the main card, Junior Dos Santos won a heavyweight bout over Mirko Cro Cop via technical knockout in the third round. Dos Santos overcame a cut around his right eye from a first-round kick and recovered after taking another kick in the groin during the second.

When the Brazilian Dos Santos caught Cro Cop, a 35-year-old former police officer who’s a member of the Croatian Parliament, with a right knee to the jaw and then a right hand into the left eye, Cro Cop verbally submitted.

Earlier, Paul Daley took out welterweight title contender Martin Kampmann by TKO 2:31 into the first round, and Josh Koscheck, a former NCAA Division I wrestling champion, needed 1:25 to defeat 37-year-old Frank Trigg by TKO.

Tyson Griffin won a second-round TKO over Hermes Franca. After knocking Franca down with a crushing right to the jaw, Griffin pounced on him, unleashing a barrage of punches to the head until the fight was called.

In the final match before the main card, Efrain Escudero scored a first-round TKO of Cole Miller after 3:36 elapsed. Escudero knocked Miller down three times before the bout was stopped. And Tomasz Drwal overwhelmed Drew McFedries with a rear naked chokehold to win by tapout 1:03 into the second round of their middleweight bout.