Palhares and Horn on different jiu-jitsu levels
Jeremy Horn gave us a clue of what might happen during the pre-fight interview when he said he could potentially suffer a broken arm at the hands of his opponent Rousimar Palhares (pictured on the bottom). Horn didn't get a limb snapped but he fought with too much respect against the Brazilian submission master. "Toquinho" took Horn down at will and pounded him from full-guard, half-guard, side control and often had "Gumby's" back. Horn, who amazingly has 49 career submission victories, is a very good jiu-jitsu practitioner but he looked tentative on the bottom. It allowed Palhares to sweep the scorecards for a unanimous decision victory.
Palhares' nickname means "The Tree Stump" in Portuguese. He's definitely packs some power in that 5-foot-7 fire-hydrant build. He lifted Horn way off the floor to score a huge slam at the start of second round and tossed Horn onto his head with a beautiful suplex to open the third. Horn did show that he's one tough customer going the distance. He actually had Palhares in some trouble around the 2:30 mark of the second when he got to a mount position and worked for an arm-triangle choke. Palhares showed composure and freed himself. It was the only dangerous moment in the fight for the Brazilian.
Palhares (18-2, 2-1 UFC) said after the fight that he broke his right hand in the first round. He's obviously strong and a great grappler but it's unclear if he did enough here to separate himself from UFC's trio of middleweight jiu-jitsu aces that includes himself, Demian Maia and Ricardo Almeida. He's also a unique character. Palhares could be seen weeping during his walkdown to the cage.
