Wanderlei Silva knocks out Brian Stann at UFC Japan

Wand beats B. Stann by knockout. Photo: Josh Hedges/UFC

It was worth the wait and Wanderlei Silva returned to Japan in style! After six years away from the country that made him famous, the Brazilian delighted the Japanese in the main fight of UFC on FUEL 8, an event held this Saturday night (2), in Saitama. In an electrifying duel, Wand knocked out the American Brian Stann, made peace with the victory and scored his 35th career triumph.

In addition to Silva, another Brazilian who has reasons to celebrate on Japanese soil is Rani Yaya. The black belt from Brasilia defeated Mizuto Hirota and secured his second consecutive victory in Ultimate. In the preliminary card, Brazil suffered two defeats. Marcelo “Magrão” Guimarães and Cristiano Marcello ended up being surpassed by Hyun Gyu Lim and Kazuki Tokudome, respectively.

The fight

In a lukewarm event, full of fights that ended in the judges' decision, Wanderlei Silva and Brian Stann lived up to expectations and excited the Japanese public who attended the Saitama Super Arena. The duel started off amazingly, with a frank exchange of punches. Wand landed the best blows, but Stann responded quickly and shook the Brazilian.

Without being intimidated, Wanderlei lowered his guard and called the North American into combat. The frank exchange of blows continued then and Wand again lost his balance. But the dispute remained open, with both fighters looking for a knockout.

After a frantic first round, Silva returned for the second round with the same aggression, but without exposing himself to Stann's blows. The Brazilian worked with straight blows, which made the North American's nose bleed a lot.

Confident in the fight, Wanderlei Silva ended the dispute in his style. With a combination of straight and cross, he knocked Brian Stann down. With two more blows on the ground, the referee ended the dispute and declared victory for the Brazilian, who went to celebrate on top of the octagon bars with the fans present in the gym.

Hunt wins extreme duel against Struve

In the duel of extremes, better for Mark Hunt. The 120kg New Zealander. and 1,77 m. managed to overcome the giant Stefan struve, the greatest fighter in UFC history at 2,13 m. and 117 kg.

A striking specialist, Hunt was not intimidated by the huge difference in size. He soon tried to close the distance and unleash powerful boxing punches.

Better on the feet, Mark surprised and took down Struve. However, the Dutchman showed good ground play to reverse his position, stay on top and fire several blows at his rival.

In the second round, Hunt again took the initiative and threw very powerful punches against Stefan. Lost in the standing fight, the Dutch giant also had difficulties on the ground. After gaining an advantageous position and trying to get a kneebar, Mark ended up defending well and staying on top for most of the round on the ground.

In the third round, with both fighters very tired, the pace of the fight dropped. But when he was already moving backwards and feeling Stefan's attacks, Hunt managed to land a right cross on his rival. From then on, the New Zealander walked forward, connected three more blows and took his rival solo.

As a result, Mark Hunt scores his fourth consecutive victory and is the heavyweight with the most consecutive victories in the UFC.

Rani Yaya wins first for Brazil

After two defeats on the preliminary card, Rani Yaya achieved the first victory for Brazil at UFC Japan. Against the Japanese Mizuto Hirota, the black belt from Brasilia showed technique, movement and agility in the ground fight to take the dispute.

Right at the start of the contest, Rani set a blistering pace in the contest. He looked for the takedown and even though his opponent managed to get up, he took Hirota down again. On the ground, the Brazilian tries to evolve in positions, getting close to the back and almost finishing on the arm.

In the second round, the Brazilian continued the tactic from the previous round and soon looked for the takedown. On the ground, this time Rani was very close to finishing. After arriving in mount, he used the kata-gatame and was close to forcing his rival to give up. But with a lot of courage Mizuto Hirota managed to free himself and continue in the dispute.

Tired by the intensity of the first rounds, Rani returned slower for the third round. This time, Hirota managed to keep the fight going for longer and landed some good punches on the Brazilian.

With a lot of courage, Yahya managed to take down the opponent and take the fight to the ground. However, the Japanese, even from below, decided to attack. The Japanese fighter went for a triangle and then an armbar. But with a lot of technique and flexibility, Rani managed to escape the blows and stay on top in the ground fight.

At the end of 15 minutes of fighting, victory for Rani Yaya in the unanimous decision of the judges.

Check out the complete results from UFC Japan below:

Main Card

Wanderlei Silva defeated Brian Stann by knockout in R2;

Mark Hunt derrotou Stefan struve by technical knockout in R3;

Diego Sanchez defeated Takanori Gomi via split decision;

Yushin Okami derrotou Hector Lombard in the judges' split decision;

Rani Yaya defeated Mizuto Hirota via unanimous decision by the judges;

Dong Hyun Kim defeated Siyar Bahadurzada via unanimous decision;

Preliminary Card

Brad Tavares defeated Riki Fukuda via unanimous decision by the judges;

Takeya Mizugaki defeated Bryan caraway in the judges' split decision;

Kazuki Tokudome defeated Christian Marcello in the unanimous decision of the judges;

Alex Caceres derrotou Kyung Ho Kang in the judges' split decision;

Hyun Gyu Lim defeated Marcelo Guimaraes by knockout in R2;