LAS VEGAS – Decorated grappling world champion Rodolfo Vieira had a feeling he was going to win by submission in his return to the octagon.
Vieira (10-2 MMA, 5-2 UFC) got his hand raised Saturday on the main card of UFC Fight Night 236 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas after he submitted Armen Petrosyan (8-3 MMA, 3-2 UFC) with an arm-triangle choke in the first round of their middleweight contest – something he saw coming.
“I’m feeling great with this victory, with one more finish,” Vieira told reporters at the UFC Fight Night 236 post-fight press conference. “I knew that he was a high-level striker, but he had a lot of (holes) in his ground game. I knew if I put him down, I would finish him.”
Not much surprised Vieira when it came down to face Petrosyan. However, the calf kicks Petrosyan threw did throw a small wrench into the fight.
“I wasn’t expecting the calf kicks,” Vieira said. “He hurt me. I think he hit me like three or four times. At the time, when I was fighting, I didn’t feel anything, but now I’m hurting. But it doesn’t matter. After the kicks, I took him down, and I finished him, and that’s what matters to me.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 236.
