Silva wins via first-round stoppage vs. Bonnar in final 205-pound fight

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (4E Sports) – Middleweight king Anderson Silva declared that he will not fight again in the light heavyweight division, dashing all hopes for a possible blockbuster showdown against 205-pound champion Jon Jones Jr.

Silva made the declaration after defeating Stephan Bonnar via first-round stoppage Saturday in the main event of UFC 153.

The Brazilian fighter put on a show before his countrymen, catching his opponent off-guard with a knee to the solar plexus then followed up with ground and pound until the fight was stopped by referee Marc Goddard at the 4:40 mark.

“I’m not the best. I just do things that people think are impossible,” Silva (33-4) said after the fight. “I’m not going to fight at 205 again. I fought at 205 to save the event.”

Silva just accepted the fight to save UFC 153 event, which lost its original main event when featherweight champion Jose Aldo was injured in a motorcycle accident.

The loss could mean retirement for Bonnar (15-8), who came out of semi-retirement to accept the Silva fight on short notice. The 35-year-old Bonnar had won three straight prior to the loss.

Earlier, jiu-jitsu expert Antonio Rodrigo Noguera won via second-round submission over Dave Herman in their heavyweight showdown.

“I feel so happy, because this man said jiu-jitsu doesn’t work. But jiu-jitsu does work. Jiu-jitsu is Brazilian. Jiu-jitsu is an art,” said Nogueira, who successfully bounced back from a surgery after his arm was broken by Frank Mir at UFC 140.

Meanwhile, Glover Teixeira used ground and pound to pummel Fabio Maldonado en route to a second-round TKO victory.

The victory will promote Teixeira (19-2) directly into title contention while Maldonado (18-6) suffered his second consecutive defeat after winning 11 straight matches.

In other matches, Jon Fitch (24-4-1) defeated Erick Silva (14-3) via unanimous decision, Phil Davis (10-1) returned to his winning ways with a submission victory over Wagner Prado and Demian Maia beat Rick Story via submission in the first round.

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