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5 biggest winners from UFC Vegas 31: Islam Makhachev vs. Thiago Moises

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Islam Makhachev should be considered a UFC title contender after last nights win
Islam Makhachev should be considered a UFC title contender after last nights win

UFC Vegas 31 was one of those UFC events that was flying under the radar in terms of star power, but ended up being a massively entertaining show overall.

We saw eight of UFC Vegas 31’s 10 fights end in violent fashion, and that meant that the card had plenty of huge winners from top to bottom.

So with a number of fighters looking to use this event as a springboard to move into UFC title contention, keep their UFC careers afloat, or just ensure that their name would be remembered by fans, who succeeded last night?

Here are the five biggest winners from UFC Vegas 31: Islam Makhachev vs. Thiago Moises.

#5 Rodolfo Vieira – defeated Dustin Stoltzfus on UFC Vegas 31’s main card

Rodolfo Vieira bounced back from his first UFC loss to impress last night
Rodolfo Vieira bounced back from his first UFC loss to impress last night

Last night’s fight against Dustin Stoltzfus was easily the most important of Rodolfo Vieira’s MMA career thus far. ‘The Black Belt Hunter’ is renowned as one of MMA’s best submission artists, with an extensive history of tapping out some true greats in the realm of grappling.

However, in his last UFC fight, he was embarrassed by the unheralded Anthony Hernandez, submitting to a guillotine choke in the second round after completely gassing out. It was the kind of performance that suggested the Brazilian wasn’t ready for the top level of MMA.

That meant that last night, Vieira’s back was against the wall in his fight with Stoltzfus. But thankfully, he showed some improvements to win the fight with a third-round rear-naked choke.

Vieira showed far more patience than he’d done before, and didn’t gas himself out by spamming takedowns against his more defensive opponent. Instead, he backed him up and kept the pressure on without being too explosive.

And when the time came, naturally Vieira delivered the goods, snaking onto Stoltzfus’s back before strangling him with a beautiful rear-naked choke.

Will Vieira ever become a UFC title contender? It’s honestly doubtful as he still has holes in his game to fill, but at the very least, this performance showed he does belong in the world’s biggest MMA promotion.

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