Long recognized as a combatant who starts strong and looks to stop his opponents early, Belfort stormed forward with punches in the opening round. The Brazilian had Weidman covering up and was momentarily looking to finish.
However, Weidman responded with an important takedown that turned things around. The American quickly passed Belfort's guard and moved into full-mount. From there, the champion overwhelmed his challenger with ground-and-pound, which forced referee Herb Dean to step in and halt the bout.
My god that ground and pound.
— Jeremy Botter (@jeremybotter) May 24, 2015
The win gave Weidman his third straight title defense as middleweight champion.