Bruno Ferreira and Dustin Stoltzfus at the UFC Louisville weigh-in. Photo Credit: Youtube/UFC
Powerful striking Brazilian Bruno “Tank” Ferreira defeated grappler Dustin Stoltzfus on Saturday night at UFC Louisville.
Ferreira is known as a kill-or-be-killed fighter who has never fought more than two rounds. With two knockout wins and one knockout loss at UFC, he had a great opportunity to improve to 3-1 here. Standing in his way was Stoltzfus. Once 0-3 at UFC, the Pennsylvania native bounced back by winning two of his last three bouts, but still needs more work to get into a safe position. But Ferreira was dominant and got the job done after a tough early stretch.
Bruno uncharacteristically backed away from the fight, circling the cage at first, only attacking a few times. When he went for a big overhand, Stoltzfus dodged it and scored a takedown. He settled into full guard, but Ferreira pushed away and got to his knees. He wasn’t agile enough to fully escape in the next scramble, and Dustin got his back, but fell from the top. When Bruno got on top, he immediately went for a kneebar. Stoltzfus went for it a few times, but eventually his prey kicked out and escaped. With a minute left in the round, Ferreira caught Dustin with a spinning back elbow, rocking Stoltzfus. From there, it was 45 seconds of “Hulk” chasing his prey with wide looping shots. He made enough hits to keep hurting Stoltzfus, then took him down with one last spinning elbow.
Ferreira celebrated his victory by jumping and slamming both fists into the center of the Octagon for a “Hulk Smash,” and judging by the roar from the Louisville crowd, the Brazilian may have gained a new fanbase tonight.
OFFICIAL RESULT: Bruno Ferreira defeats Dustin Stoltzfus via TKO (spinning elbow) at 4:51 of the first round
