Third time was the charm for Pablo Popovitch, as after losing to Marcelo Garcia in the divisional finals in 2005 and 2007, he upset his rival and halted his bid for a fourth straight divisional title.

Popovitch got an early takedown, but from there, it looked like it would be business as usual, as Garcia turned a stright armlock into a sweep to top position, and followed quickly by hitting a back crucifix and looking for a rear-naked choke.

After Popovitch escaped, the bout largely turned into a war of hand-fighting and grip exchanges as Garcia sat and Popovitch kneeled. Finally, Garcia sunk an omoplata that allowed him to sweep Popovitch to score two points.

After regaining top position with time running out, Popovitch exploded out of half guard to side control, where he held down a frantically wriggling Garcia to score three points with 10 seconds to spare. Garcia escaped, but with no time left for him to make up the deficit, his bid for a fourth straight divisional title was dashed by a score of 3 to 2.

In the division's third place bout, Gregor Gracie outpointed Keita "K-Taro" Nakamura 10-0 to take bronze. Nakamura got top position early, and took Gracie's back before the points period, but Gracie assumed control after that, passing guard and taking the back to rack up late points.