Former UFC heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos capped off the night at Eagle FC 47, throwing down with fellow UFC veteran Yorgan De Castro.
The bout closed out a weird night, one that ended in a way few would have predicted.
De Castro came into the fight a sizable underdog, and within the opening minute, “The Mad Titan” pointed at center, trying to goad “Cigano” into an all-out war. Dos Santos instead played it smart, keeping the fight at range with his kicks — high, low, and to the body. A Dos Santos leg kick a little later nearly took De Castro off his feet.
In the back half of the round, De Castro found his stride, going on the attack and backing Dos Santos up. Things were getting interesting, but Dos Santos continued chopping at the legs, and landed a spinning back kick to the midsection. Just as De Castro had started to come on, JDS appeared to have found his rhythm.
De Castro started round two throwing a massive right hand, then tied things up with Dos Santos. But it was Dos Santos who took control in the clinch, care of a body lock. De Castro finally broke free, and began walking the former champ down once more. He came close several times, trapping Dos Santos, cutting off the cage. As the round wore on, Dos Santos began attacking the legs again, putting a halt to De Castro’s forward progress. Dos Santos then backed De Castro into the fence and fired a spinning back kick — but hit the cage as De Castro escaped.
Round three saw what had been a competitive main event come to an unsatisfying end. Early in the frame, Dos Santos fired a right hand — and dislocated his shoulder. A clearly upset JDS was beside himself, knowing that a likely win on the scorecards had just slipped through his fingers. Instead, with the doctor ruling him unable to continue as they worked his arm back into place, it was De Castro who was awarded the injury TKO win.
Eagle FC 47 main event ends after Junior dos Santos dislocates his shoulder pic.twitter.com/DMRhp1j84D
— Eagle FC (@EagleFightClub) May 21, 2022
After the fight, “The Mad Titan” called for a fight with Fedor Emelianenko — a bout Khabib Nurmagomedov had suggested Dos Santos for.
The weirdness that went down Friday night might have ended with Dos Santos-Castro, but it didn’t start there. In the Eagle FC 47 co-main event, Hector Lombard came out guns blazing, hurting Thiago Silva early. With the Brazilian on the ground, Lombard moved in to drop hammer fists — but Silva showed some veteran wiles of his own, tying Lombard up. That bought him enough time to survive; the pair would get back to their feet, and Lombard later looked for a takedown, driving Silva up against the fence.
Silva would survive the round, then put himself in the hole when he fired an illegal knee at a downed Lombard about two minutes in. Silva had just dropped Lombard with a right hand, and appeared to pull up on the knee (or maybe simply mistime it), but couldn’t stop it in time.
With the doctor ruling Lombard, whose nose was bloodied from the blow, unable to continue, the bout ended in a No Contest. Lombard immediately left the cage, though he’d return for the result to be announced. Silva, meanwhile, expressed a willingness to run it back in future.
