UFC 196 results: Nordine Taleb drops Erick Silva with vicious knockout

Erick Silva got cute with Nordine Taleb in the opening round of their UFC 196 welterweight fight.

Following a scramble late in the first round, the Brazilian reached out to touch gloves, and as soon as Taleb complied, Silva popped him with a legal but questionable quick punch to the jaw.

Taleb didn't respond right away. But he had the answer in the second round. Silva threw a kick, Taleb caught it, and landed a picture perfect straight right hand.

Silva crumpled face-first to the mat at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, and Taleb added a hammerfist before the referee waved off the bout. Taleb, a product of Montreal's TriStar, got the KO at 1:34 of the second round.

"I've been training this a thousand times in my training camps,"said Taleb (12-3). "I'm not surprised he did it."

The opening round was an odd affair, as Silva (18-7, 1 NC), who moved his training camp to Kings MMA for this fight, was aggressive and threw all manner of flashy strike attempts. But he didn't land on any of them, leaving Taleb free to counter at will.

It was more of the same in the second round, right up until the moment Taleb landed his KO of the Year contender.

Taleb is now 4-1 in the UFC, while Silva has dropped two straight.