The latest Ultimate Fighting Championship card, UFC 85: Bedlam, had numerous surprises for its main event due to injuries. There were four different main events scheduled due to various injuries before the company settled on a welterweight matchup. But the biggest surprise occurred when Thiago Alves (15-3) recorded a second-round technical knockout at 1:02 of Matt Hughes (42-7) due to strikes.

Advertisement

There were actually two notable upsets on the card at London, England’s O2 Arena. Alves cashed tickets as a $1.60 underdog (bet $100 to win $160), while moving onto the short list of welterweight contenders. However, things looked bad for the Brazilian heading into this fight after failing to make weight. Alves has had problems reaching the 170-pound limit in the past, and tipped the scales at 174 during Friday’s weigh ins.

The end came early in the second round when Alves connected on a well-timed flying knee to Hughes, followed by some ground and pound before referee Herb Dean stopped the contest. Hughes, a future Hall of Famer, has now dropped three of his last four fights. The Illinois native is near the end of his incredible career, with a likely bout against Matt ‘The Terror’ Serra coming up later this year.

While Hughes is stuck trying to figure out where his career goes from here, Alves continues to advance up the welterweight ladder.

“Mr. Dana White, I’ve been a good boy,” stated Alves. “I never choose my opponents, please give me a title shot.”

There was controversy at the conclusion of the Brandon Vera-Fabricio Werdum heavyweight fight. Werdum prevailed with a first-round knockout at the 4:40 mark, but many felt that referee Dan Miragliotta prematurely stopped the contest. Miragliotta has had a tough week, he was also the referee for last weekend’s controversial stoppage in Elite XC’s Kimbo Slice-James Thompson matchup.

Werdum (11-3-1) secured the mount position over Vera (8-2) and started to rain down shots to cash tickets as a $1.30 underdog. But it appeared that Vera wasn’t hurt and that he was intelligently defending himself at the time of the stoppage. Vera immediately jumped to his feet and protested the stoppage to no avail.

Vera has now dropped his last two fights after tearing through the division, while Werdum becomes a major player in the weakened heavyweight division. The Brazilian now has quality victories over Vera and Gabriel Gonzaga after beginning his UFC career with a unanimous decision loss to Andrei Arlovski.

Brad Young can be reached at byoung@vegasinsider.com.