UFC Fight Night 40 Aftermath: Ugly Beauty, Johnny Eduardo, and ‘The Hulk’

UFC Fight Night 40 provided a card for the ages last night; proving that it isn’t all about the pay-per-view cards after all. Seven knockouts peppered the exciting card, which proved to as solid as it looked, from top to bottom. So what did I take home after the proceeding in Cincinnati? Well, obviously the main event was pretty decent and provided the main talking point for the evening:

The Immortal-A thing of ugly beauty

Matt Brown vs. Erick Silva was by far the best fight on the card, not only on paper, as the bout turned out to be the lead runner for fight of the year 2014. The Brazilian rocked ‘The Immortal’ with body shots in the first round, and was so close to getting the finish. Reminiscent of his bout with Jordan Mein, Brown turned the heat up and absolutely battered Silva. It was a thing of ugly beauty.

Props to Silva for withstanding such a gnarly muay thai lesson from Brown, and I sincerely hope he recovers OK, but what a performance from Matt Brown. He makes it seven in a row with six finishes, and surely a title shot is within his grasp now. Perhaps it’ll be one more for Brown, but it’s hard to see him getting stopped after last night’s performance.

So, this Johnny Eduardo kid….

Since 2008, Johnny Eduardo is 13-1 and he put on a clinic last night. Coming in as a tremendous underdog against the world number four Eddie Wineland, Eduardo sent a clear message to the division; I’m coming for the top 10. Although, currently training at Nova Uniao means he will have to fight team mate Renan Barao if he gets a title shot down the line.

When you add in that Eduardo hadn’t competed since 2012, and that he was facing the former WEC bantamweight champion, you can see why I’m making so much noise about the guy. Who he faces next is anyone’s guess, but a win over the number four in the division is absolutely huge for Johnny boy.

Hulk smash

There were mixed reactions when Soa Palelei was resigned to the UFC, mainly due to the bad memories of his lacklustre one fight stint for the promotion back in 2007. His re-debut against Nikita Krylov was sketchy, but his latest two fights have been very convincing indeed. After taking two minutes to knock Pat Barry out in Queensland last year, Palelei looked to improve his streak to 11 at Fight Night 40.

Ruan Potts may not be a household name, but Palelei looks to be coming in to his own now. Another first round knockout, an 11 fight spree and a 21-3 record; expect to see Palelei either ranked, or facing a ranked fighter next time out.

Props go to the referee of Daron Cruickshank vs. Erik Koch, for allowing Koch the time to be knocked out, wake up, and get hit another twenty times before stepping in. Albert Tumenov beasted Anthony Lapsley, Fight Pass rocked, Kyoji Horiguchi is a karate badass, and Costa Philipou has hands of stone.