Stipe Miocic knocked out Fabio Maldonado in 35 seconds in the main event of last night's (Sat., May 31, 2014) The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) Brazil 3 Finale in Sau Paulo, Brazil. It's difficult to analyze this bout without coming right out and saying it: this probably never should have happened. Maldonado is a light heavyweight who was moving up a class on short notice to replace Junior dos Santos. That tells you where Miocic is in the pecking order in the heavyweight division, good enough to test the elite in the weight class. Fabio, meanwhile, was a floundering 205-pound prize fighter with a reputation for walking into punches. Thrilling? Sure, the crowds get off on it but none of us should be surprised that he had his head taken off when he moved up to heavyweight and fought a striker with big punching power. So it goes. Hey, at least the end of the longest day in UFC history came quick and painless, right? For a full recap of Miocic vs. Maldonado click here, and for complete TUF Brazil Finale 3 results and blow-by-blow coverage of all the night's action click here.
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