Kelvin Gastelum knocks out Vitor Belfort at UFC Fight Night 106
Rising UFC middleweight star Kelvin Gastelum went to Brazil and took out one of the nation’s most prominent mixed martial arts legends on Saturday night.
Now he has his eyes set on another.
Gastelum knocked out Vitor Belfort late in the first round of UFC Fight Night 106 in Fortaleza, Brazil. Belfort never threatened Gastelum, who almost finished the fight several times before it was finally stopped at 3:52 of the round.
Gastelum made his biggest splash during his postfight interview before a hostile crowd that seemed to grow more welcoming as he spoke.
“There is a guy who is always making some noise and that I would like to face,” Gastelum said. “Anderson Silva, in Rio de Janeiro, in June.”
The fight would be a huge opportunity for Gastelum, who has had well-documented problems cutting to welterweight but improved to 4-0 at middleweight in the UFC.
The 25-year-old said the sacrifices he is making during training camp are paying off in the cage.
“I trained three months for this fight,” he said. “I could not attend my mother’s birthday because of that.”
Gastelum made it up to her by having the fans sing “Happy Birthday” in Portuguese.
The crowd was more frenzied earlier in the evening when another Brazilian former world champion scored a knockout reminiscent of his glory days.
Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, a former light heavyweight champion, knocked out Gian Villante early in the third round.
The victory was Rua’s third straight, all of them in Brazil. Before the streak, he had dropped four of five fights and missed extensive time because of injuries.
“It was a good fight,” Rua said. “The victory erases the pain of the injuries and everything I’ve gone through in the last few years. Villante is a tough guy, he deserves all the respect and he will be very successful in the future. I got a little cautious at the beginning of the fight because I thought he was going to try to take me down, but he chose to exchange shots with me.”
That played right into Rua’s hands, as he wanted to keep the fight standing. Edson Barboza had the same strategy for his lightweight showdown with Beneil Dariush, and it certainly paid off.
Barboza landed a flying knee that knocked Dariush out cold and should be a contender for best knockout of the year.
Barboza claimed that title in 2012 for a wheel kick finish of Terry Etim that is part of any dramatic highlight montage.
“I’m very happy. I love what I do,” Barboza said. “During this week, I said that until today the most incredible moment of my career had been the knockout of Etim and that I would like to do something similar in Fortaleza. I think I got it.”
In a women’s bantamweight bout, Bethe Correia and Marion Reneau fought to a majority draw after Reneau dominated the third round to take a 10-8 on all three scorecards. She won on one card, as one of the judges also gave her the first round.
Also on the main card, Ray Borg won a unanimous decision over Jussier Formiga in a matchup of elite flyweight grapplers, and welterweight Alex Oliveira submitted Tim Means in the second round of a rematch from a fight that ended in a no-contest when Means landed an illegal knee in December.
The preliminary card was highlighted by Las Vegan lightweight Kevin Lee’s second-round submission of Francisco Trinaldo. Lee has won four straight fights and eight of his past nine after rallying for a victory.
Sergio Moraes, Joe Soto and Jeremy Kennedy won unanimous decisions.
Middleweight Paulo Henrique Costa needed 1:17 to knock out Gareth McLellan, and Michael Prazeres submitted veteran Josh Burkman in the first round of a lightweight bout.
Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-277-8028. Follow @adamhilllvrj on Twitter.