Rodolfo Vieira rebounded from his first career loss with a brutal submission win over Dustin Stoltzfus at UFC on ESPN 26.
After falling victim to one of the biggest upsets of the year in February with his submission defeat over Anthony Hernandez, Vieira (8-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) got back on track with a submission win of his own in the third round against Stoltzfus (13-3 MMA, 0-2 UFC) at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Vieira showed an evolution in his game by striking with Stoltzfus in the early going. He eventually got the back from a standing position, though, and collapsed his opponent to the mat with a rear-naked choke to get the finish at the 1:54 mark of Round 3.
Check out the replay of the submission below (via Twitter):
INCREDIBLE 🤯Rodolfo Vieira finished with STYLE 💥#UFCVegas31 pic.twitter.com/XTVv8ncUj8
— UFC (@ufc) July 18, 2021
A true submission expert! 🙌
🇧🇷Rodolfo Vieira showed his dominance on the ground!
[ #UFCVegas31 continues on @ESPN & @ESPNPlus ] pic.twitter.com/2iknqE0lBg
— UFC (@ufc) July 18, 2021
Following his performance, Vieira was very emotional. He said he made major changes after his sole career loss and thinks it’s going to be for the best going forward.
“I’ve been working a lot on my fundamentals and I’m trying to show I’m well rounded,” Vieira said through an interpreter in his post-fight interview with Paul Felder. “I didn’t dive right in for the takedown and was a lot more calm and I liked it.”
Up-to-the-minute results of UFC on ESPN 26 include:
- Rodolfo Vieira def. Dustin Stoltzfus via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 3, 1:54
- Billy Quarantillo def. Gabriel Benitez via TKO (punches) – Round 3, 3:40
- Daniel Rodriguez def. Preston Parsons via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 3:47
- Amanda Lemos def. Montserrat Conejo via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 0:35
- Sergey Morozov def. Khalid Taha via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Malcolm Gordon def. Francisco Figueiredo via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
- Rodrigo Nascimento def. Alan Baudot via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 1:29
