STOCKTON, Calif. -- Antonio Silva (Pictures) took a small step Saturday in fortifying EliteXC’s claim that the Brazilian is the best big man in the world, as he won the promotion’s heavyweight crown with a second-round TKO stoppage over a game but overpowered Justin Eilers (Pictures) inside the Stockton Arena.

Both men paced the cage for nearly two minutes before Eilers, a former Big XII college football player and four-time UFC veteran, landed the first meaningful blow. But the 6-foot-4, nearly 280-pound Silva closed the distance and nailed the takedown. A turtled Eilers was overwhelmed by the American Top Team juggernaut’s sheer size but escaped to his feet after Silva was penalized a point for an illegal strike to the back of his opponent’s head. Eilers seemed to settle into a comfortable distance, and the pair traded occasional but competitive blows until the bell.

It looked like Silva might have a fight on his hands going into the second round, but the scales tipped quickly. With a one-two straight combination, Silva had Eilers on the run. The Iowan turned and then crumbled on the cage with referee Herb Dean (Pictures) at close range. Dean stopped the melee 19 seconds in, as a tempered Silva earned his 11th victory.

Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante (Pictures) also made good on his rise up the light heavyweight ranks with a decisive first-round TKO over Canada’s King of the Cage champion, Travis Galbraith (Pictures). The pair clinched aggressively after a brief respite on the canvas, with “Feijao” pouring on the punishment with a whopping hook and a series of pulverizing knees. Galbraith attempted to retaliate with some swings of his own, but his Brazilian opponent had found his target too quickly and too often. The bout was put to an end 3:01 into the round, as Cavalcante improved his record to 7-1.

Wilson Reis (Pictures) utilized a snappy takedown and a busy ground game to stall Brian Caraway at nearly every turn of their 140-pound tilt.

In the fleeting seconds that Caraway kept his feet underneath him, he landed crisp head and body shots, but Reis often dodged under the onslaught and returned the fight to the ground again. Reis earned mount on two occasions but hovered mostly in half guard.

The judges unanimously awarded the Brazilian 30-27 scores, much to the Stockton Arena crowd’s discontent.


San Francisco’s Carl Seumanutafa earned a jarring TKO victory after slamming fellow heavyweight Mike Cook (Pictures) to the mat during an early scramble. Cook, a native of San Jose, Calif., was out on impact only 1:22 into the first round.

In the evening’s opener, striker Drew Montgomery (Pictures) was stifled at almost every turn by wrestler Brandon Tarns (Pictures) in their heavyweight bout. Montgomery was aggressive with hooks and uppercuts when he could stay standing, but those moments were few and far between, as Tarns grinded him to the mat almost at will. A grounded Montgomery was cut in the second round by a Tarns elbow, but it was a gash on Tarns’ scalp that led to a third-round TKO via doctor’s stoppage 4:22 in.

In a 160-bout that transpired after the main event, David Douglas (Pictures) floored Marlon Matias (Pictures) with wild shots for the TKO only 12 seconds in. Light heavyweights Anthony Ruiz (Pictures) and Jeremy Freitag (Pictures) battled it out for three rounds with Ruiz taking the unanimous decision with three scores of 29-28.