Fabio Maldonado is an undersized light heavyweight, so it was no surprise that he looked in over his head against heavyweight contender Stipe Miocic Saturday night in Brazil. The gutsy Brazilian stepped up in weight class on short notice to fill in for former heavyweight champ Junior Dos Santos against Miocic but never got a chance to get off as he was stopped in just 35 seconds into the first round.
Miocic said he planned to become the first person to KO the former professional boxer and, while he was unable to separate Maldonado from his consciousness, the Ohio fighter did hurt the striker badly. Seconds into the fight, Miocic stunned and buckled Maldonado with two right hands.
The underdog covered up against the cage and soon ate a straight cross that dropped him to the mat. Miocic did not hesitate to follow him to the ground and unleash several more punches, forcing the referee to step in and stop the fight.
The win is Miocic's third straight. Maldonado's own three-fight win streak was snapped by the tough loss.
In the two Ultimate Fighter final matches, Warlley Alves submitted Marcio Alexandre to win the TUF: Brazil 3 middleweight title and Carlos Junior won a decision over Vitor Miranda to become this season's heavyweight champ.
Follow Elias on Twitter @EliasCepeda & @YahooCagewriter
No comments:
Post a Comment