Contender Series winner Rodolfo Bellato made his promotional debut at UFC Austin on Saturday, in a light heavyweight match-up with Ihor Potieria.
Also a veteran of Dana White’s Contender Series, class of 2021, Potieria was 1-2 in the UFC to date.
Two big light heavyweights met in the center of the Octagon to kick off the fight, both trying to impose themselves on one another. Potieria landed a few heavy leg kicks in the initial exchanges, and began mixing in the body kick too. Bellato continued trying to put the Ukrainian on his back foot, but Ihor looked comfortable fighting whilst moving backwards. Every time Bellato persisted with the forward movement, he found himself getting caught with heavy counters.
With just two minutes left of the round, Bellato pushed Potieria against the cage and secured the double under-hooks, but from there he landed an accidental low blow which caused a halt to the action. The Brazilian lost his dominant position and the action continued with the two in the center. The “Duelist” continued to win the boxing exchanges and looked the faster striker of the two, but Bellato realised he was more dominant in the clinch. For the final minute of round one, Bellato had Ihor pinned up against the cage where he looked to land hellacious elbows and knee’s, all whilst Potieria evaded and threw back haymakers of his own.
At the beginning of round two, Potieria looked to be active with his boxing again, but Bellato once again looked to push him against the fence. Despite that, the Brazilian was caught with a huge right hand that dropped him. From there the “Duelist” jumped on top of a tired Bellato and reigned down huge ground-and-pound. Somehow “Trator” stayed in the fight as Jason Montalvo looked to step in at any point. Against all odds, Bellato got back to his feet and continued storming forwards. The Brazilian successfully landed a single leg takedown and turned the tables, from there he transitioned to full mount where he worked relentlessly for a finish. About 150 ground-and-pound hammer fists later, the ref stopped the fight.
Jared Gooden’s come-from-behind performance one fight earlier set the benchmark, and Rodolfo Bellato raised it.
