With UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman watching from cageside, Ronaldo Souza dominated Gegard Mousasi in a non-title bout on Friday night.
Souza (21-3) staked his claim to No. 1 contender status by submitting Mousasi at 4:30 of the third round via guillotine choke. The middleweight bout headlined a UFC Fight Night event at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Ledyard, Connecticut.
A Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, Souza took Mousasi down repeatedly during the 185-pound contest and more than held his own on the feet. He wore Mousasi down from top position in each of the three rounds, eventually leading to the finish.
Immediately after the victory, Souza pointed out he finished Mousasi inside three rounds, while it took Lyoto Machida, who fought Weidman for the title in July, a full five-round fight to dispose of Mousasi via unanimous decision in February.
"If anyone doubted [I'm ready for the title], they are completely wrong," Souza said. "Lyoto fought this guy for five rounds. I finished him."
A former Strikeforce middleweight champion, Souza pressed the issue of taking the fight to the ground early -- perhaps a little too much. He shot single leg attempts on Mousasi from the opening bell, often from very far out.
Souza grew more comfortable as the fight progressed, however, and scored his first takedown midway through the opening round. Mousasi threatened with a triangle attempt from his back and a few upkicks, but was mostly controlled on the ground.
A left hook by Souza opened up the following frame, followed by an overhand right and a front kick to the face after Mousasi slipped a bit while throwing a punch. The kick hurt Mousasi and provided Souza an opportunity to take him down easily.
Seeking the 15th submission win of his career, Souza attacked Mousasi's right arm with a kimura attempt from side control. He came close to producing a tap late in the round, but Mousasi held on to see the third.
A tired-looking Mousasi managed to land a few straight punches and a left hook to start the third, but he surrendered a takedown 90 seconds in. A right hand caused a welt to form under Mousasi's right eye and he fell into the guillotine moments later.
For Souza, the win avenges a first-round knockout loss to Mousasi in September 2008. That fight, which took place in Saitama, Japan, ended when Mousasi knocked him out cold with an upkick from his back.
It also improves Souza's UFC record to 4-0, with three finishes. Weidman (12-0) is scheduled to defend his title for a second time against Vitor Belfort at UFC 181 on Dec. 6 in Las Vegas.
Despite the impressive victory, Souza is at least one fight away from a title shot, according to comments made during the postfight news conference by UFC president Dana White.
Rothwell steamrolls Overeem in Round 1
Alistair Overeem's UFC career has looked much like many of the individual fights it's comprised of -- great starts, followed by serious letdowns.
Overeem (37-14), who signed as a major heavyweight addition to the UFC in 2011, suffered his third knockout loss in four fights on Friday.
Coming off a yearlong layoff due to a suspension, Ben Rothwell (34-9) put Overeem down with a right hand to the temple at 2:19 of the first round. Overeem did not go out from the punch, but never came close to recovering.
A former titleholder in multiple organizations, Overeem debuted in the UFC to a lot of fanfare, knocking out former UFC champion Brock Lesnar in late 2011. The UFC scheduled him to a title fight against Junior dos Santos in May 2012 in Las Vegas, but he was ultimately pulled from the card after he failed a random drug test.
The Dutch heavyweight never really got back on track. He suffered back-to-back knockout losses in 2013, before rebounding with a decision win against Frank Mir.
As he usually does, Overeem looked good in the opening moments of the Rothwell bout. He had no trouble landing on Rothwell, including knees and kicks to the body and an overhand right.
About one minute into the round, however, Rothwell (34-9) changed the course of the fight completely with a stiff right uppercut on the inside that caught Overeem on the chin. Overeem staggered back and then clinched with Rothwell to recover.
When the two broke, it was clear Overeem was still blinking off the shock of the punch. He landed one more knee to the body, but went down from the clean straight right hand from Rothwell moments later.
Rothwell, who was suspended nine months by the UFC for an elevated testosterone level in his last fight, improves to 4-3 in the UFC. All but one of his wins have come via knockout.
Mitrione lays out Lewis
Matt Mitrione didn't take too kindly to Derrick Lewis' callout.
Mitrione (8-3) flattened Lewis just 41 seconds into their heavyweight fight -- which Lewis asked for in July after knocking out Mitrione's teammate in Las Vegas.
When Lewis called him out that night at "The Ultimate Fighter 19" finale, Mitrione got on top of his chair cageside and yelled at Lewis and UFC president White. Two months later, Mitrione proved it was a bad strategy on Lewis' part.
"He called me out, so that really upset me," Mitrione said about the bad blood between the fighters. "That's not really my flavor. I expected to finish him that quickly, and I'm always looking for the knockout bonus.
"Even though I'm not ranked in the top 10 or top 15, I'm that good. My peers respect me, so I don't think too many people are going to call me out. I'm dangerous and my takedown defense has gotten so much better."
In the opening seconds of the fight, Lewis (11-3) stepped into a winging right hand and was met flush with a short right cross from Mitrione. The shot basically knocked Lewis out, as he fell back and then rolled onto all fours on the canvas.
Referee Mario Yamasaki gave Lewis a chance to recover, but as he postured on his hands to try and stand up, Mitrione threw heavy punches to the side of his head to force the quick stoppage.
Mitrione moves to 2-0 this year, with first-round knockout finishes over Lewis and Shawn Jordan. He was scheduled to fight Stefan Stuve at UFC 175 in July, but the bout was scratched late when Struve fainted while warming up beforehand.
Lewis, 29, suffers his first loss inside the Octagon. He had been unbeaten in his eight previous fights prior to the setback.
Lauzon tears through Chiesa
Joe Lauzon recorded his 10th finish inside the Octagon in a second-round TKO over Michael Chiesa.
The lightweight bout ended at 2:14 of the second round, when a cageside doctor ruled Chiesa could not continue due to a deep cut over his right eye. All three judges had Lauzon ahead 10-9 after the first round.
"I think he edged me out in the first round, and he finished pretty strong," Lauzon said. "I came out strong in the second and cut him above his eye and that was it.
"We were in a clinch and I hit him with an uppercut and the knee. I saw how bad the cut was, so I thought they were going to stop it."
Lauzon (24-9), whose last knockout came in September 2008, opened the cut with a left knee from a Thai clinch. Prior to getting hit, Chiesa (11-2) had scrambled to his feet from a Lauzon takedown, but got hit shortly after with body shots and the knee.
Referee Herb Dean paused the action almost immediately after the cut was opened.
Fighting out of Bridgewater, Massachusetts, Lauzon pursued Chiesa with his aggressive style early. He scored a takedown early in the first round after catching a Chiesa kick, but couldn't keep him down.
Later in the round, Lauzon swept from the bottom and transitioned beautifully to Chiesa's back. He landed limited offense from the position though, and eventually allowed Chiesa to escape.
On the feet, it was Chiesa who got the better of the exchanges. He finished the first round with a knee up the middle and flurry of punches to Lauzon's head. He opened the next frame with a resounding kick to Lauzon's body.
Lauzon ate the shots well, however, and took Chiesa down after catching a knee attempt. He put him away moments later, after Chiesa rose to his feet.
Lauzon improves to 2-0 in his last two fights. This is his first appearance of 2014. Lauzon hadn't fought since December 2013 because he was caring for his newborn son, Joey, who was born with cancer in January of this year.
"It's been a really, really rough 10 months, but everything is better now," Lauzon said. "My son is doing great, and I came away with a great win tonight, so I'm happy.
"It was really important to get this victory because I think everyone was counting me out because of everything that happened with my son."
Chiesa, winner of "The Ultimate Fighter 15," fell to 4-2 in the UFC.