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Teixiera: on a 20-fight winning streak. Julie Jacobson/AP/Press Association Images
Octagon

Uncaged: Teixeira and Souza provide the beat-downs in Brazil

Resident UFC man Brian Kirk looks back at this week’s UFC FN 28 card.

IT’S BEEN A busy couple of weeks in the UFC and the third event in eight days for the organisation produced some notable results and some great finishes.

The results of the fights mostly went to script as the hometown men fared best with Glover Teixeira, Ronaldo Souza and Rafael Natal all coming away with victories on the main card.

Joseph Benavidez reinstated his top contender claims with an impressive first round victory over Jussier Formiga while Piotr Hallmann and Ali Bagautinov also closed out their respective fights without needing to call upon the judges.

The champ up next for Glover

He may not be in the UFC very long but a 20-fight winning streak dating back to March 2005 including five UFC wins finally equates to Glover Teixeira getting his shot at UFC glory.

While his win over Ryan Bader during the week may have seemed routine on paper, Teixeira had to overcome a knockdown and guillotine attempt before unleashing a lethal combo that flattened Bader and he stamped his number one contender credentials with a series of unanswered hammerfists in the very first round.

Dana White then promised the Brazilian a shot at the winner of the Jon Jones-Alexander Gustafsson bout in an unsurprising move as Jones has basically swept through the rest of the division.

While Glover is extremely well rounded and will definitely pose a threat to whomever he faces next, he must work on his stand-up defence because if Jones or Gustafsson caught him like Bader did,his win streak would abruptly come to an end.

YouTube Credit: Anthony Pettis

“Jacare” makes his mark at middleweight

Another Brazilian who announced himself as a genuine contender, this time in the middleweight division, was Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza. The much decorated BJJ practitioner produced a vastly improved stand-up performance to KO Yushin Okami in the first round of their fight on Wednesday night.

“Jacare” has been criticised in the past for relying solely on his world-class grappling skills and for being one-dimensional but that myth was dispelled in a single round as he stalked Okami before connecting with a perfectly-timed overhand right before finishing in similar fashion as his counterpart Teixeira.

While he is still a couple of fights away from a title shot he could become a threat to the middleweight champion if his stand-up game continues to progress as much as it has in his short stint in the UFC so far. Possible matchups against Luke Rockhold or Vitor Belfort have been mooted for his next fight and a win against either would propel him to the upper reaches of the divisional ladder.

YouTube credit: UBALDO ARAUJO

Joseph Benavidez has to be in line for another crack at Demetrious Johnson after cruising to victory over Jussier Formiga. Benavidez once again displayed some slick stand-up before dropping Formiga with a flying knee and has now gone 3-0 since he lost to Johnson in a close split decision back in September 2012.

Piotr Hallmann produced the shock of the night as he finished Francisco Trinaldo with a kimura in the second round of their fight. Hallmann, who had verbally agreed to sign for Cage Warriors before getting the call from the UFC, impressively finished Trinaldo on his way to picking up the “Submission of the Night” bonus cheque.

YouTube credit: fightofthenight

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