Siyar Bahadurzada Retains Title at Shooto Brazil 17

Veteran referee Mario Yamasaki was flown in to officiate Friday's Shooto Brazil 17 in Rio de Janeiro, but Siyar Bahadurzada made sure that his services weren't needed for long in the evening's main event. "The Afghan Killa" took just 94 seconds* to knock out Brazil's Carlos "Indio" Pereira and defend his Shooto World Middleweight (183 lbs.) title.

Bahadurzada caught a body kick from Pereira early on and initiated the clinch, where the two traded a flurry of knees on the inside. The beginning of the end came when they disengaged and "Indio" started lobbing out-of-range overhand bombs. Though one punch appeared to clip (and may have even wobbled) Bahadurzada, Pereira's fatal error was charging forward on the Golden Glory product. One left hand from Bahadurzada later, Pereira fell flat on his back and was rescued from further damage by Yamasaki.

Since his submission loss to Jorge Santiago in the semi-finals of Sengoku's 2008 middleweight tournament, Bahadurzada has notched three straight wins, including two first-round knockouts in Shooto. He's expected to drop to welterweight when he begins competing for Strikeforce, with whom he inked a four-fight deal in May.

Luiz "Beicao" Ramos and Igor "Chatubinha" Fernandes made history in the co-main event as they became the first pair of Brazilians ever to square off for a Shooto world title. On the line was the vacant 167-pound strap which Shinya Aoki returned in May.

The match would prove unspectacular, however, as the Nogueira-trained Fernandes constantly clinched and looked for takedowns which rarely came. When not having his back jammed into the ring-posts, Ramos kept his distance, pawing at Fernandes with jabs and chopping away with leg kicks. The biggest strike of the fight came early in the second round, when Ramos landed a flush right head kick. In the end, the judges valued Ramos' attempts at offense over Fernandes' positional control and unanimously awarded the title to "Beicao."

In undercard action, Nova Uniao lightweight prospect Hacran Dias improved to 16-1-1 with a second-round thumping of the overmatched Cesario di Dominico. After trapping Di Dominico in an arm-triangle for the majority of the first frame, Dias took back mount early in the second and punched away until Mario Yamasaki jumped in for the stoppage.

* Unofficial time. Tatame reports a time of 38 seconds.

Full (unofficial) results after the jump.

Shooto World Light-Heavyweight (83kg/183 lbs) Title Bout
Siyar Bahadurzada (17-4-1) def. Carlos "Indio" Pereira (13-9) via KO (punch) R1, 1:34

Shooto World Middleweight (76kg/167 lbs) Title Bout
Luiz "Beicao" Ramos (16-5) def. Igor "Chatubinha" Fernandes (11-5) via unanimous decision

Shooto South America Lightweight (65kg/143 lbs) Title Bout
Johnny Eduardo (24-8) def. Paulo "Guerreiro" Dantas (19-6) via unanimous decision

Guto Inocente (3-0) def. Vitor Miranda (5-3) via TKO (punches) R2, 1:43
Hacran Dias (16-1-1) def. Cesario di Dominico (5-2-1) via TKO (punches) R2, 3:07
Emanuel "Junior Killer" Silva (15-8-1) def. Hernani Perpetuo (9-3) via technical submission (armbar) R1, 4:56
Giovanni Diniz (10-5) def. Cristian Nogueira (0-2) via TKO (doctor stoppage) R3, 1:06
Rodolfo Marques (8-1) def. Walter Junior (1-1) via unanimous decision