UFC on FOX 27 results: 'Jacare' Souza takes out Derek Brunson after head kick in first

Ronaldo Souza did his best to make sure history repeated itself against Derek Brunson.

Souza (25-5 MMA, 8-2 UFC) landed a head kick that put Brunson (18-6 MMA, 9-4 UFC) on the canvas, then finished him off with punches at the 3:50 mark of the first round. The pair were fighting in a rematch five and a half years after “Jacare” knocked out Brunson in 41 seconds in a Strikeforce fight.

The middleweight bout was the main event of today’s UFC on FOX 27 card at Spectrum Center in Charlotte, N.C. It aired on FOX following prelims on FS1 and UFC Fight Pass.

Souza tried a high kick 30 seconds in, but Brunson was out of the way of it. About 90 seconds in, Brunson made his first move of the fight with a combination that briefly backed “Jacare” up. He tried the same again 15 seconds later. Past two minutes in, Brunson tried to get past Souza’s hands to land, then backed out of the way of a Souza kick.

With two minutes left, Souza went after a takedown and got Brunson down for just a second, though it mostly was defended. But when they went back to the center, Souza landed some punches and pushed Brunson away.

Then history nearly repeated itself. Souza landed a high right head kick that put Brunson on the fence. As soon as he popped back up, Souza landed a left uppercut and followed it with a right. Brunson was hurt in a big way, and “Jacare” landed a few left hands before Dan Miragliotta knew Brunson wasn’t going to recover.

Up-to-the-minute UFC on FOX 27 results include:

• Ronaldo Souza def. Derek Brunson via knockout (head kick, punches) – Round 1, 3:50
• Andre Fili def. Dennis Bermudez via split decision (29-28, 27-30, 29-28)
• Gregor Gillespie def. Jordan Rinaldi via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 4:46
• Drew Dober def. Frank Camacho via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
• Bobby Green def. Erik Koch via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Mirsad Bektic def. Godofredo Pepey via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 2:47
• Katlyn Chookagian def. Mara Romero Borella via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
• Randa Markos def. Juliana Lima via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Ji Yeon Kim def. Justine Kish via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 30-27)
• Vinc Pichel def. Joaquim Silva via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Niko Price def. George Sullivan via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 4:21
• Cory Sandhagen def. Austin Arnett via TKO (strikes) – Round 2, 3:48

For complete coverage of UFC on FOX 27, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

(MMAjunkie’s Ken Hathaway contributed to this report on site in Charlotte.)