The three stars of ‘UFC Fight Night 41: Munoz vs. Mousasi’ in Berlin

With MMA fans often overlooking UFC Fight Pass events, expectations for the UFC Fight Night 41 fighters to grab headlines were understandably low.

Three fighters on the card, though, came out and delivered memorable performances at O2 World Berlin on Saturday.

With that in mind, here are the three stars from UFC Fight Night 41.

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Third Star: Iuri Alcantara

Even though he entered the card as the most significant betting favorite, Alcantara (30-5 MMA, 5-2 UFC) provided the type of quick destruction of Vaughan Lee that would have been hard to predict.

“Marajo” wasted little time putting away Lee as he needed just 25 seconds to drop his English foe and force referee Grant Waterman to halt the action for the third fastest knockout in UFC bantamweight history.

Alcantara showed glimpses of his incredible talent in a decision loss to Urijah Faber this past summer. As he becomes more accustomed to the 135-pound division, the Brazilian is showing he’s one of the best out there.

Second Star: Niklas Backstrom

Backstrom (8-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) made MMA fans, oddsmakers and the entire MMAjunkie staff eat crow when he pulled off UFC Fight Night 41’s biggest upset, courtesy of a first-round submission of Tom Niinimaki.

Niinimaki entered the contest with high praise from Finnish fans; however, Sweden’s Backstrom came in and stole his thunder with the win.

The fight started with Backstrom in some trouble, but he overcame every compromising situation thrown his way in the little more than four minutes of action. Once the 24-year-old found his opening, he submitted Niinimaki with a no-hooks rear-naked choke.

It was a finish somewhat reminiscent of the bulldog choke used by Carlos Newton to defeat Pat Mileteich at UFC 31, except now there are performance bonuses to award such impressive maneuvers. Backstrom got one of those in the form of $50,000.

First Star: Gegard Mousasi

Mousasi (35-4-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC) hasn’t exactly thrilled his supporters in recent years with a string of somewhat lackluster efforts before and upon joining the UFC roster. He changed that perception entirely in the UFC Fight Night 41 main event with a complete domination of Mark Munoz.

The 28-year-old had an answer for everything Munoz threw his way, and the result was a first-round submission victory. Mousasi showcased the talents that have prompted so many to rave about his potential since his early days as a PRIDE fighter.

Mousasi’s options are limitless going forward. With his only UFC defeat coming to No. 1 middleweight contender Lyoto Machida, it’s safe to say many more matchups of significance are ahead for “The Dreamcatcher.”

For more on UFC Fight Night 41, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of the site.