Jacare Defeats Brunson By First Round KO
It's been quite a while since these guys fought the first time in Strikeforce, where Jacare knocked Brunson out in the first round. That fight was several years ago and both fighters have changed quite a bit since then, but the result didn't.
Jacare knocks out Brunson in the first round... again. This time with a beautifully timed head kick. It looked like Brunson committed more to defending a body kick than a head kick, his left elbow was lowered too much and he didn't block the head kick effectively. He wasn't completely out but he was stumbling all over the place. A few more of Jacare's left hands prevented Brunson from recovering and the ref stopped it.
Jacare was coming off a head kick KO loss to the current middleweight champion Robert Whittaker, interesting that's how he won this fight. Jacare's jiujitsu has long been revered, but his striking is really solid. I know MMA math doesn't really work, but Brunson defeated a lot of impressive strikers, including Lyoto Machida, so for Jacare to come and put him away in the first round says a lot about how far his striking has come.