Last night, the UFC touched down in sunny Fortaleza, Brazil, with UFC Fight Night 106.
This card was a stacked one as far as Fight Nights go. On the undercard, we saw some nice wins from talent like Kevin Lee, Joe Soto and Sergio Moraes, as well as the final fight of “The People’s Warrior” Joshua Burkman, who came up short to the dangerous Michel “Trator” Prazeres.
The main card, meanwhile, began with a submission win from Alex “Cowboy” Oliveira, a draw between Bethe Correia and Marion Reneau, a fun flyweight battle between Ray Borg and Jussier “Formiga” Da Silva, and blistering, flying knee knockout from Edson Barboza. The co-main event, finally, saw Mauricio “Shogun” Rua turn back the clock with a crackling, third-round pummeling of Gian Villante, while the card was topped off by a career-best performance from former welterweight contender Kelvin Gastelum, who melted former champ Vitor Belfort in the first round of the middleweight main event.
On a night that was packed with exciting finishes, it’s quite arguable that Gastelum’s main event win was the most impressive of the bunch. Unsurprisingly, this win generated some big reactions from the MMA community.
Here are some of the best of those reactions!
— Tyron T-Wood Woodley (@TWooodley) March 12, 2017
KG is a Beast #UFCFortaleza
— Cub Swanson (@CubSwanson) March 12, 2017
@KelvinGastelum out here finishing legends! Damn I love that kid, so proud! Keep this going #UFCFortaleza #ufc #UFCFN106 #mma
advertisement – continue reading below— Zak Cummings (@ZakCummings) March 12, 2017
Holy cow! @KelvinGastelum always brings it! Very impressive!!! #UFCFortaleza
— Chas Skelly (@ChasSkelly) March 12, 2017
https://twitter.com/MeganA_mma/status/840803637442023424?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Why did Kelvin ever want to go to 170 anyways? #UFCFortaleza
— Mike Jackson, Esq. (@TheTruthJackson) March 12, 2017
@KelvinGastelum hands looking great at middleweight.. congrats mate
— Arnold billy allen (@Arnoldbfa) March 12, 2017
Nice work @KelvinGastelum ! @UFC pic.twitter.com/yktDjYa8JE
— Alpha Cat Zingano (@CatZingano) March 12, 2017
https://twitter.com/beatdown155/status/840803806510104576?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
I got greedy and bet vitor because he was such a dog. Turns out odds makers are smarter than me. Who knew?
— Chris Camozzi (@ChrisCamozzi) March 12, 2017
What a finish to the night! Gastelum with a nice TKO finish! #UFCFortaleza
— Aljamain Sterling (@funkmasterMMA) March 12, 2017
Incredible fights from @beneildariush & @KelvinGastelum well done fells!
— Jake Ellenberger (@EllenbergerMMA) March 12, 2017
Vitor has been one of my favourite fighters since his first fight in the ufc but I'm hoping he retires tonight
— Chris Clements (@menaceclements) March 12, 2017
Oh wow USADA is to blame lol congrats to @KelvinGastelum @ufc
— Jamie Varner (@jamievarner) March 12, 2017
With his defeat of Belfort, Kelvin Gastelum improves to 4-0 as a UFC middleweight. His most recent win in the division occurred in December, when he clobbered the dangerous Tim Kennedy to a third-round TKO, ultimately pushing him into retirement. With this destructive defeat of Belfort, He’s now a strong 14-2 overall.
In defeat, Belfort stumbles onto a tough three fight streak, having been stopped by Chris Weidman, Gegard Mousasi and now Gastelum in his most recent bouts.
What do you want next for Kelvin Gastelum and Vitor Belfort? Sound off in the comments section, PENN Nation!
This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 3/12/2017.