Vitor Petrino put the UFC’s heavyweight division on notice earlier tonight (Sat., Oct. 11, 2025) at UFC Rio LIVE on ESPN+ from inside Farmasi Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, putting a brutal stop to Thomas
Peterson with a a monstrous third-round knockout (punches).
Coming off a successful crossover into the heavyweight division last time out, Petrino was hoping to push his record to 2-0 in his new division. The former light heavyweight was a favorite to take care of business in front of his home crowd, but Peterson is no slouch. “Train” brought a 2-2 UFC record into this weekend and has shown the ability to finish fights when the opportunity is presented.
While Peterson did well early on to hold his own in the standup and tire Petrino with a little bit of clinch work, he didn’t dig deep enough into his bag of tricks to really hurt Petrino. This allowed Petrino the chance to take his time on the feet and find the perfect time to attack.
That moment came just 25 seconds into the third round when Petrino launched a perfectly-placed combination that connected flush and bent Peterson’s back as he toppled to the canvas. Peterson was out cold, but Petrino still landed some vicious shots before the referee had time to step in.
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