Kim saw his usual grappling style foiled by Erick Silva at UFC Fight Night 29, but then opted to engage him on the feet and after initially coming off second best he managed to mount a comeback and deliver a jaw-dropping knockout finish in the second round.
Round One
Silva lands a spinning elbow early in the first round. Then Kim presses forward looking for the clinch and takedown, but Silva stuffs the attempt against the cage.
Kim continues hunting for that takedown though, going down low for a second attempt, but again he’s unsuccessful.
He’s undeterred though and wings a spinning attack that completely misses the target. Silva gets a little distance and wings some vicious punches that don’t quite find their mark.
Kim misses with another wild spinning backfist attempt. Silva keeps trying to move away and get some distance from his opponent in order to land strikes, but he’s not landed anything really meaningful yet and Kim continues to press forward relentlessly.
Eventually persistence pays off for Kim as he gets Silva down and swiftly moves to full mount. With 90 seconds to go Silva’s able to escape that position, but Kim’s still on top and not offering up a great deal of offense, but controlling his opponent nonetheless.
30 seconds to go and there’s a few punches from Kim and then he stands up and throws a few more at the grounded Silva before the bell sounds.
Round Two
Kim immediately pressing forward and closing the distance, but Silva lands a big punch that hurts him. Silva charges and lands a flying knee as he swarms him.
Silva drops him with a punch, but Kim scrambles and gets back up in the clinch. He seems to have recovered quickly and they go back to striking range.
Silva misses with a winging punch, but does find a home for a good body shot.
Kim starts to push forward again looking for the clinch, but he looks tired and isn’t as aggressive as before and he’s leaving room for Silva to land some strikes, which he does.
Now it’s Silva who’s got Kim’s back and is trying to get him to the mat. He’s unsuccessful though and abandons that attempt.
Silva certainly looking in the ascendancy now, though he’s starting to tire too and is looking a little reckless – they both are in fact!
Then, all of a sudden they trade a punch each in close – Silva’s attempt misses the target, but Kim lands a perfect strike that appears to instantly knock out the Brazilian with 3.01mins on the clock in the second round!
What a shocker, who saw that coming? Silva’s out cold and takes a while to come too, but he seems ok.
