UFC on FUEL TV 10 a night of records, including eight submissions

Leave it to Brazil to set a record for submissions. It’s completely appropriate.

Saturday’s UFC on FUEL TV 10 card set a new Zuffa-era UFC record with eight submissions in 12 fights – and tied a promotional record with 10 total stoppages. The show took place in, of course, the cradle of Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

UFC on FUEL TV 10 took place at Paulo Sarasate Arena in Fortaleza, Ceara, Brazil. The main card aired on FUEL TV following prelims on Facebook.

Apart from the eight submissions, there were a pair of knockouts and just two decisions. But it was the tapouts that everyone was talking about.

Antonio Braga Neto (9-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) got things going right off the bat and impressed in his UFC debut, opening up the fight card with a slick kneebar submission of Anthony Smith (17-10 MMA, 0-1 UFC), who also was debuting after crossing over from Strikeforce. After getting a takedown, Neto went after an arm, then a rear-naked choke. Smith was able to reverse, but Neto took advantage by snagging Smith’s left leg to go after a kneebar. He got it to force the tap just 1:52 into the first round.

In the night’s second fight, Caio Magalhaes (6-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) took a beating in the first round thanks to his insistence for submission attempts as Karlos Vemola (9-4 MMA, 2-4 UFC) was able to stave them off, land several slams and tenderize both sides of the Brazilian’s face with ground and pound. But in the second, Magalhaes appeared to have more energy, got the fight to the ground, took Vemola’s back and rolled him over with a tight rear-naked choke that forced a tap at 2:49 of the frame.

After a pair of decisions and a Felipe Arantes TKO, Raphael Assuncao (19-4 MMA, 4-1 UFC) went for a belly-down armbar in the second round after dominating on the mat in the first, and though Vaughan Lee (13-9-1 MMA, 2-3 UFC) defended for a moment, Assuncao, was able to roll over, latch onto Lee’s right arm, and almost no sooner did he pull back on it did Lee start to tap. Assuncao continued to make waves in the bantamweight division, moving to 4-0 at 135 pounds since dropping down from featherweight in 2011.

Rony Jason (13-3 MMA, 3-0 UFC) got taken down quickly into the first round by Mike Wilkinson (8-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC), and it looked like Wilkinson might be able to impose his will on top with ground and pound. But Jason stayed calm and went after a triangle choke. He got it, and Wilkinson was asleep at the 1:24 mark of the first. It was the fifth-fastest submission in the history of the featherweight division in both the UFC and WEC.

Daniel Sarafian (8-3 MMA, 1-1 UFC) made easy work of Eddie Mendez (7-2 MMA, 0-1 UFC). He quickly passed from half-guard to full mount while trapping Mendez’s left arm. And in mount, he got an arm-triangle and squeezed until Mendez had no choice but to tap.

Leonardo Santos (12-3 MMA, 1-0 UFC) was resilient after William Macario (6-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC) looked to overpower him on the ground in the first round. In the second, with Macario clearly looking tired, Santos got a trip takedown, quickly passed to mount, then locked up an arm-triangle choke to get a tap with just 17 seconds left in the frame to win the second season of Brazil’s edition of “The Ultimate Fighter.”

Fabricio Werdum (17-5-1 MMA, 5-2 UFC) engaged in a fascinating jiu-jitsu battle with bellow BJJ black belt Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (34-8-1 MMA, 5-4 UFC) in the main event. But midway through the second round, he was able to latch onto an armbar, and perhaps with the memory of having his right arm broken by Frank Mir at UFC 140, Nogueira verbally submitted this time. It was just the second submission loss in the career of the legendary “Big Nog.”

And Erick Silva (15-3 MMA, 3-2 UFC) stuffed a Jason High (16-4 MMA, 0-2 UFC) takedown attempt in the first round. After a scramble on the ground, Silva took High’s back. He had the option of a triangle choke from back mount or a rear naked choke, but he slid off, latched onto an arm and forced High to tap to an armbar at the 1:11 mark of the first round. Silva won $50,000 with the “Submission of the Night” bonus.

For the first in UFC history, a Brazilian won every fight on the card. Five of the bouts were between a pair of Brazilians, making a Brazilian winner automatic in those bouts. But in the seven fights pitting a Brazilian against someone from outside the country, Brazil went a perfect 7-0.

It was a night of history to say the least.

For complete coverage of UFC on FUEL TV 10, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of the site.

(Pictured: Leonardo Santos)