The UFC’s Fight Night 28 event from Brazil last night provided a lot of action in short, explosive fights! The main event saw Brazilian Glover Teixeira battle back from near defeat to score a first round TKO win over Ryan Bader. The victory sees Teixeira solidify his position as the next contender at Light Heavyweight. Bader fought well and fought aggressively, but this is not the first time that Bader has not been able to break through and win a fight that could propel him to contender status. As for Teixeira, he awaits the outcome of the upcoming Jon Jones-Alexander Gustafsson matchup for the title, and he will lobby to get the winner of that match as soon as possible. If Jones wins as he is expected to do, Teixeira will be his next challenger at 205 lbs.
The co-main event further shook up the Middleweight rankings as long time top contender Yushin Okami went down to a hail of punches from Brazilian Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ in the opening stanza. Okami, who has had a long time lock on one of the top contender spots, had only ever been stopped in that dominant a fashion by Anderson Silva, and it just emphasizes the ferocity that ‘Jacare’ brings to the division. ‘Jacare’ against Chris Weidman is a real possibility, and he is not the type of guy to have qualms about facing Anderson Silva if it comes to that. As for Okami, he is running his course in his UFC career, as he is still a tough out but the direction on what to do with him is not there. He could be a solid opponent to welcome Gegard Mousasi to the Middleweight class, and should he lose that fight, he is at risk of being cut.
In the Flyweight division, Joseph Benavidez likely assured himself another shot at champion Demetrious Johnson. With the division being light on challengers, Benavidez should get a rematch after he wiped out Jussier Formiga with punches and knees that the Brazilian had no answer for. On the undercard, Russian Ali Bagautinov looked impressive as he took out his opponent in the third round after showing patience and solid strikes, but the division is still Johnson and Benavidez, then everyone else, so look for that rematch to be signed ASAP. The show overall featured several fighters, most notably Benavidez, break out and notch victories in hostile territory. Some of the judging can still be questionable, as in the case of Keith Wisniewski’s undercard loss to Ivan Jorge, but it is still hard to win down there. The Brazilians have been dominant in the main and co-main events when fighting at home, and Okami and Bader have just had their scalps added to that dominance.