SAN JOSE, Calif. - Fabricio Werdum upset Fedor Emelianenko on Saturday night, submitting the mixed martial arts legend in the first round of the Strikeforce main event at the HP Pavilion.
The 33-year-old Russian heavyweight suffered his first loss in a decade and only his second as a pro. Emelianenko (31-2 with one no contest) came into the fight as an 8-1 favourite.
The Russian staggered Werdum (14-4-1) early on and put him on his back. But as he rushed in to take advantage, Werdum caught him in an armbar and triangle choke.
Emelianenko held on but eventually had to tap 69 seconds into the fight.
"I was concentrating on the strikes. That's why I made a mistake," Emelianenko said through an interpreter.
The loss is considered the first real defeat for Emelianenko, who was stopped by a cut the only other time.
Emelianenko connected on five of 12 strike attempts. Werdum missed on all three he tried, but his jiu-jitsu won the day.
"Fedor may seem invincible but I'll show that Fedor is just a man," Werdum said prior to the fight.
He lived up to his word.
"Fedor is the best in the world. This night I beat Fedor, but Fedor is the best," the American-based Brazilian said in the cage afterwards.
Werdum, a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu who failed to cut it in the UFC, is expected to fight Strikeforce champion Alistair (The Demolition Man) Overeem of the Netherlands next.
The spotlight now shines on UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar, who takes on Shane Carwin next Saturday at UFC 116 in Las Vegas.
Also Saturday, former Strikeforce middleweight champion Cung Le (7-1) stopped Scott (Hands of Steel) Smith in the second round.
Smith, known for his late rallies, came out strong this time but was taking the worst of it as the first round ended. Le dropped Smith (18-7 with one no contest) midway through the second round with a spinning kick to the gut, finishing him off with five punches and a knee at 1:46.
The 38-year-old Le lost to Smith in December, a fight he was dominating until he ate a late punch.
"This time I fought smart," said Le. "I let him come in and he came into the power, and he got caught."
Strikeforce women's middleweight champion Cris (Cyborg) Santos pounded out a TKO over Jan (Cuddles) Finney at 2:56 of the second round.
Finney (8-8) was game but clearly outmatched, although Santos (11-1) had a point deducted for strikes to the back of the head in the first round as she hammered a turtled Finney. The fight was mercifully stopped midway through the second after Finney, sporting an ugly mouse under her left eye, crumpled from a knee to the body.
Santos landed 141 strikes compared to 23 for Finney, a huge underdog coming into the fight. The Brazilian has yet to find a serious challenge in the cage.
Earlier, former lightweight champion Josh (The Punk) Thomson (17-3 with one no contest) choked out Pat Healy (23-16) at 4:27 of the third round. Healy had kept it close until succumbing eventually to the rear naked choke, using his wrestling to fight off Thomson's submission attempts.
Emelianenko is an MMA icon, whose only other loss was a decade ago when a cut cost him a fight just 17 seconds in. The only other blemish on his record was in 2004 when an accidental cut resulted in a no contest against Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in Pride.
The Russian went on to beat Nogueira and became a legend in Pride where he went 14-0 with the one no contest. Emelianenko has never fought in the UFC but he has beaten fighters who held UFC titles: Mark (The Hammer) Coleman, Andrei Arlovski, Tim Sylvia and Kevin Randleman.
Emelianeko is an enigmatic figure who looks more like a truck driver than fighter. But he just wins.
Still many MMA fans have been frustrated that Emelianenko, since the demise of Pride, has elected to fight lesser rivals outside of the UFC.
The Russian also looked human last time out against Brett (The Grim) Rogers before finishing him off in the second round.
The 32-year-old Werdum went 4-2 in Pride before settling in the UFC where he beat Gabriel Gonzaga and Brandon (The Truth) Vera and lost to Arlovski and Junior Dos Santos. He was 2-0 in Strikeforce going into Saturday's fight.
In between Pride and the UFC, Werdum defeated Emelianenko's brother, Aleksander, in November 2006.
Notes: Veteran Frank Shamrock announced his retirement as a fighter during the card. Shamrock, 37, is now working as a fight analyst for Showtime. "I'm a better talker than a fighter these days," he said.
