Vitor Petrino made his debut as a heavyweight at UFC Nashville, taking on Austen Lane on the night’s main card.
Petrino had started his career putting together an 11-0 run as a light heavyweight, but had dropped back-to-back fights against Anthony Smith an Dustin Jacoby prior to Saturday.
Lane, still best known as one of Greg Hardy’s early opponents in MMA and a former football player himself, opened the fight with a number of kicks. Petrino caught one just past a minute in, however, dumping Lane and climbing on top. Petrino quickly moved to full mount, and started working on an arm-triangle choke. Vitor couldn’t step over to finish the submission, however, instead loosening his grip and landing shots to the body. Petrino then postured up, opened up, rained down ground n’ pound, then took the back and went after the rear-naked choke! Lane fought the hands for a moment, but didn’t last much longer than that, tapping with both hands with nowhere else to go.
Falling to 1-4 in his last five fights, Lane’s days in the UFC may be numbered. As for Vitor Petrino, he found the result he wanted in a move to a new weight class, and should get a decent step up in competition moving forward.
Official Result: Vitor Petrino def. Austen Lane by submission (rear-naked choke), Round 1, 4:16
