UFC Fight Night 32 results and gif: Rafael Cavalcante crushes Igor Pokrajac

GOIANIA, Brazil – After going five fights without seeing one of their own get his hand raised, the Brazilian fans were restless. Rafael Cavalcante solved that problem.

Unleashing a barrage of knees, “Feijao” toppled Igor Pokrajac along the fence and finished him off with punches as the home faithful exploded at the sight of his victory. The stop came 78 seconds into the fight as Pokrajac tapped to the strikes on the ground.

The light heavyweight bout was part of the main card of today’s UFC Fight Night 32 event at Goiania Arena in Goiania, Goias, Brazil. It aired on FOX Sports 1 1 following prelims on MMAjunkie.com.

Pokrajac came forward quickly, and Cavalcante fired back. The two traded giant-sized right hands in close before finally clinching up along the fence. Pokrajac worked a shot to the body. But “Feijao” latched on to a Thai plum and the crowd screamed for knees.

Cavalcante obliged with knees to the body and bigger ones to the head as he pulled Pokrajac’s head down into the blows. The Croatian finally started to crumple, and Cavalcante started landing punches. It didn’t take long before Kevin MacDonald was in to shut things down.

“I was worried about his clinch, but I also knew I had my clinch,” Cavalcante said. “I trained a lot with Anderson (Silva) and also with (Antonio) ‘Big Nog’ (Rodrigo Nogueira), and I knew I was going to be able to have him in my clinch. I really practiced this.”

Cavalcante (12-4 MMA, 1-1 UFC) had his hand raised for the first time in more than two years, since a September 2011 Strikeforce win. Pokrajac (25-11 MMA, 4-6 UFC) lost for the third time in four fights – a loss this past December to Joey Beltran was flipped to a no-contest.

Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 32 results include:

• Rafael Cavalcante def. Igor Pokrajac via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 1:18
• Brandon Thatch def. Paulo Thiago via submission (strikes) – Round 1, 2:10
• Ryan Laflare def. Santiago Ponzinibbio via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Jeremy Stephens def. Rony Jason via KO (kick, punch) – Round 1, 0:40
• Sam Sicilia def. Godofredo Pepey via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 1:42
• Omari Akhmedov def. Thiago Perpetuo via KO (punches) – Round 1, 3:31
• Thiago Tavares def. Justin Salas via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1, 2:38
• Adriano Martins def. Daron Cruickshank via submission (kimura) – Round 2, 2:49
• Dustin Ortiz def. Jose Maria via TKO (strikes) – Round 3, 3:19

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 32, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of the site.

John Morgan contributed to this report on-site in Brazil.