5 most explosive moments from UFC Fight Night: Rob Font vs. Marlon Vera

#2. Alexandr Romanov brutally submits Chase Sherman to keep his run going

Alexander Romanov produced an excellent submission win over Chase Sherman

Few fighters seem to be flying under the radar into UFC title contention right now as much as Moldovan heavyweight Alexandr Romanov, but after his explosive finish of Chase Sherman last night, that might change soon.

‘King Kong’ was already 4-0 in the octagon – and 15-0 overall – prior to his bout with Sherman, and it didn’t take him long at all to move to 5-0. Essentially, he outclassed Sherman completely.

Within seconds, Romanov shot in for a takedown, slammed Sherman to the ground, and then suplexed him back down when he stood up. From there, it wasn’t long before he secured full mount, and after abusing him with some punches, he grabbed the right arm of 'The Vanilla Gorilla' and yanked it into an Americana to force the tapout.

This was one of the more brutal submissions in recent memory, as it appeared that Sherman’s arm was literally moments away from snapping, and had there been no referee here, it felt like Romanov could’ve literally torn it from the shoulder entirely, like a modern-day Beowulf.

Given his skills on the ground, brute power and explosive takedowns, it’s probably fair to say now that Romanov might be a genuine contender in the heavyweight division – and so after this dominant win, it’s definitely time to move him up the ladder next time around.

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#1. Joanderson Brito makes an explosive UFC return in just 41 seconds

Joanderson Brito needed less than a minute to dispatch Andre Fili in his second octagon appearance

The most explosive performance from last night’s event came from a UFC rookie of sorts in the form of Joanderson Brito. Many fans had his bout with Andre Fili pegged as a potential 'Fight of the Night' contender, but in the end, it simply didn’t go long enough to warrant that.

Instead, Brito claimed a $50k bonus for himself in his second UFC bout by waylaying ‘Touchy’ in under a minute with a series of brutal strikes, cementing himself as a fighter to watch going forward in the featherweight division.

In somewhat of a flashback to the great Anderson Silva’s UFC debut well over a decade ago, literally every strike Brito threw in this bout landed cleanly. He began with two leg kicks, followed by a pair of stiff jabs, and then decked Fili with an overhand right before finishing him on the ground.

Fili – usually a durable fighter capable of absorbing plenty of damage – simply found himself outmatched here and never really got out of the blocks. Essentially, ‘Tubarao’ ran right through him.

Quite how far Brito can go in this division is a question mark, but this was a serious message sent to the rest of the featherweight roster that he’s for real, especially when you consider that Fili hadn’t been finished since 2016. Hopefully we can see the Brazilian in the octagon again soon.