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#2. Claudio Silva (12-1) vs. Danny Roberts (16-3) (Welterweight)
Brtizillian Claudio Silva came a fighter who had been unbeaten for 11 years and had won all three of his fights inside the Octagon. Having spent a majority of his formative years in England, the Brazilian felt at home at the O2 Arena. Danny Roberts was on a two-fight win streak and had also finished most of his fights.
Round 1: Roberts ate a leg kick, to begin with. Silva closed the distance and shot for the single leg takedown. Roberts stuffed it but continued to get tagged with kicks.
Silva targeted the right thigh of Roberts with kicks. Silva finally took Roberts down with 3 minutes left on the clock. Roberts did a great job of denying the pass from half guard but let Silva through.
Silva showed some tremendous side control as he worked on Roberts' right arm. Roberts did well to avoid a submission but Silva was on top of his game.
He lured in Roberts to give his back by going into full mount. However, Roberts kept his cool. Silva then worked his way into a possible arm traingle and he even locked in Roberts' left arm.
Roberts survived yet again and rolled over into Silva's guard. Roberts landed some big shos from the top to end the round.
Round 2: Roberts connected with a shot right off the gate which wobbled Silva. The Brazilian changed levels and got in another takedown.
What followed was some top-notch scrambling on the mat. Silva resumed his job of looking for a submission. The referee briefly stopped the fight after he saw Roberts' toes inside the cage being used for leverage. Silva worked his way for another arm triangle choke, however, Roberts scrambled out of it in a similar fashion as the first round.
Silva kept throwing the submissions but Roberts hung in there.
Round 3: Roberts rocked Silva within seconds of the third round. Roberts pounced on the vulnerable Silva and landed big strikes from the top. He opened up a cut on top of Silva's eyes.
Elbows and punches rained down on the Brazilian but he showed his toughness. Silva kept at it and as expected, looked for an opening for a submission. He first tried to get a heel hook in but Roberts slithered out. Silva trapped Roberts in an armbar. He picked Silva up and slammed his head into the mat. Silva didn't let go of the hold though.
The referee stepped in and stopped the fight after he heard a verbal tap from Roberts who was deeply trapped into the armbar. He rolled over but it was too late as the referee had already made his decision.
Result: Claudio Silva vs. Danny Roberts via verbal submission (armbar) (2:37, Round 3)
That was an intense back-and-forth contest that sadly had a controversial finish. Roberts may have lost but he displayed elite levels of resiliency against a relentless Jui Jitsu practitioner.
As for Silva, his win-streak extended to an incredible 13 fights.
