Gegard Mousasi has never fought for a UFC title, but he took a big step in that direction by beating Vitor Belfort via second-round technical knockout in the co-main event at UFC 204 on Saturday.
MMAjunkie passed along the official time of the stoppage:
#UFC204 results: Gegard Mousasi def. Vitor Belfort via TKO (strikes) - Round 2, 2:43 https://t.co/zLs67Un0l7
— MMAjunkie (@MMAjunkie) October 9, 2016
Mousasi started the fight as the aggressor, working to move Belfort's back to the cage. In typical Belfort fashion, The Phenom answered Mousasi's early attacks with counters of his own in combinations.
Those bursts were fewer and further between than the usually aggressive Belfort has shown before, however. Mousasi ultimately took the first round and established control of the pace.
Josh Gross of the Guardian saw the first round for the Dutchman:
10-9 Mousasi. Measured opening round from Gegard. He sidestepped a couple Belfort blitzes, landed several good punches.
— Josh Gross (@yay_yee) October 9, 2016
In the second round, Mousasi opened up and did more than control the pace.
The former Strikeforce fighter landed a nasty head kick that brought about the beginning of the end for the Brazilian. Mousasi swarmed Belfort with strikes before eventually taking him to the ground and dominating with a ground-and-pound attack to earn the stoppage.
This has turned out to be quite the year for the enigmatic Mousasi. The Dutchman has struggled with consistency, but the win over Belfort made it three in a row.
When you consider one of those wins came on one of the biggest cards of the year at UFC 200, he's finally approaching the potential he flashed as a light heavyweight champion in Strikeforce.
Mousasi knows the work is far from done to get into the title picture, though, per Mike Bohn and John Morgan of MMAjunkie:
(A win is) not going to get me nowhere. After this, (I’ll need) another fight, but if some other guy wins, then maybe he’s in line to fight. It’s circumstances. You need a lot of good circumstances, luck and of course accomplishment to fight for the belt. You need a lot of factors. Just timing. The middleweight division is very tough. The whole scenario things have to go right before you go for the belt.
Mousasi came into the fight at No. 9 in the UFC rankings. His win over No. 5 Belfort will likely shoot him up those rankings, but the Top Five is stacked with fighters who are in line for a title shot: Yoel Romero, Jacare Souza, Chris Weidman and Luke Rockhold.
However, it wouldn't be hard to envision a scenario in which Mousasi earns a fight against the odd man out in the Top Five.
If he wins that hypothetical bout, he could be in line for a title shot sooner rather than later.
For Belfort, this may be the end of the line.
According to Mookie Alexander of Bloody Elbow, The Phenom is set to retire.
If that's the case, one of the most entertaining fighters of his generation will be walking away from the sport. Belfort has an astounding 18 first-round finishes in a career that began at UFC 12 in 1997.
In addition to winning the heavyweight tournament at UFC 12, he was also the UFC's light heavyweight champion in 2004.
