Frank Mir KOs Bigfoot early, 10 straight ‘dogs cash at UFC FN 61
Published on Monday, 2/23/15, at 12:30 a.m. Eastern.
Maybe there are a few more chapters left in the storied career of Frank Mir.
Michael Johnson beat Edson Barboza by UD in Sunday’s co-main event.
Mir ended a four-fight losing streak by destroying Antonio ‘Bigfoot’ Silva in Sunday’s main event for UFC Fight Night 61 in Porto Alegre, Brazil.
He won by knockout in just 100 seconds, cashing tickets for his backers as a +175 underdog. The two-time former heavyweight kingpin had been as generous as a +260 underdog in the days leading up to the fight.
Mir came out in a surprising right-handed stance and used good movement and crisp boxing. He landed a good jab before flooring Silva with a big left hook. Mir pounced on his downed opponent and finished him with ground-and-pound treatment.
It was the 35-year-old’s first win since submitting Big Nog and breaking his arm at UFC 140 on Dec. 10 of 2011. Mir earned his 12th career finish which is the most in the UFC heavyweight division’s history.
Silva is now 0-3 with a no-contest in his last four fights. He hasn’t tasted victory since knocking out Alistair Overeem at UFC 156 more than two years ago.
In the co-main event, Michael Johnson busted up Edson Barboza on both sides of his face in the opening round. Barboza landed some nice kicks to the body in Round 2, but Johnson won the second on my card because he was more active and peppered Barboza with a slew of clean punches.
In the third, Barboza had significant swelling under his right eye and Johnson continued to stalk. The Blackzilians team member couldn’t get the finish, but he dominated for 15 minutes. Barboza was game, showed a very good chin and landed enough shots to keep the fight competitive.
But this was Johnson’s night. He captured a unanimous-decision win over Barboza (30-27, 29-28, 30-27) as a +130 underdog. The win was Johnson’s fourth straight and he used the postfight interview with Joe Rogan to call out Benson Henderson.
‘Smiley’ Sam Alvey earned a Performance of the Night bonus by besting Cezar Ferriera with a gorgeous KO at the 3:34 mark of the first round. Alvey won his second straight fight and hooked up his betting supporters as a +270 underdog.
Adriano Martins beat Rustam Khabilov by split decision as a +370 underdog.
In a welterweight clash, Matt Dwyer earned a spectacular first-round KO victory over William Macario as a +300 underdog. Dwyer knocked Macario out cold with a sick superman punch in a eye-dropping UFC debut.
The favorite cashed in the show’s lid-lifter, but a record-setting 10 consecutive underdogs would prevail to close the event.
