The Ultimate Fighting Championship was back in Sao Paulo Brazil for a solid card from top to bottom, especially when compared to many offerings this year. The main event featured native Brazilian heavyweight contender Jailton Almeida against the UFC's all-time leader in knockouts, Derrick Lewis. The two big men, however, were headed in opposite directions going into the main event. Almeida, for his part, was a surging contender riding an incredible 14-fight winning streak, including 5-0 in the UFC, all by finish. He had triumphed in his first main event in his last outing, a submission in just under 4 minutes of deadly striker Jairzinho Rozenstruik.
Despite a highlight-reel 33 second destruction of Marcos Rogerio de Lima in his last appearance, Lewis had lost three in a row before then, and at 38, is clearly on the decline. He had suffered devastating knockout losses on his feet against Tai Tuivasa and then Sergey Pavlovich, the latter in just 55 seconds, and was then easily taken down and submitted in just over 3 minutes by Sergey Spivak. His prospects looked grim against an old-school dominant grappler in Almeida, who had already destroyed a similarly dangerous striker in Rozenstruik, as well as finishing much better grapplers in Danilo Marques and Shamil Abdurakhimov.
It's fair to say that the bout ended up surprising everyone. Almeida got easy takedowns, as expected. However, rather than finishing matters in the first or second round, as he had in all his previous UFC appearances, he struggled to do much against a passive but determined Lewis, who spent entire rounds on his back but received relatively little damage, while avoiding all submission attempts. It led to a very boring stalemate at times, with the referee repeatedly encouraging Almeida to work...when he was in mount. Almeida won all five rounds to score the unanimous decision but may have hurt his reputation regardless, as the fight was meant to be the perfect set-up for a dominant, quick stoppage.
In the co-main, top Brazilian prospect Gabriel Bonfim battled the tough Danish veteran Nicholas Dalby. A BJJ virtuoso, Bonfim was a perfect 15-0 as a pro, including back-to-back submissions in the UFC of Mounir Lazzez and Trevin Giles in 73 and 49 seconds, respectively. Dalby had consistently defied the odds, however, and was riding a three-fight UFC winning streak of his own heading into the clash. For the first round and a half, Bonfim looked spectacular, dominating a very game Dalby on the feet as well as taking him down and inflicting heavy ground-and-pound. However, the high pace proved to be too much, as Bonfim became badly gassed in the middle of the second. Dalby, who turns 39 in 12 days, showed no signs of fatigue as he poured on the punishment, abusing Bonfim with an endless barrage of punches and knees. Finally, Bonfim fell over and covered up for dear life, with the referee stopping it at 4:33 of the 2nd, with Dalby scoring a gigantic upset as a nearly +500 underdog and handing Bonfim the first loss of his career.
In other significant bouts, Elves Brener took advantage of a huge defensive lapse by Kaynan Kruschewsky with an overhand left that landed perfectly behind the ear and left his opponent utterly inert on the canvas. Another Brazilian, Vitor Petrino, stayed undefeated by knocking out skilled striker Modestas Bukauskas with a perfect short left hook counter as his foe came forward.
Here are four fantastic fights that can be booked featuring the UFC Fight Night 231 winners.