Mackens Semerzier surprised Wagnney Fabiano, Sherdog.com’s No. 3-ranked featherweight in the world, and the MMA world when he submitted the Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt with a first-round triangle choke at WEC 43 “Cerrone vs. Henderson” Saturday at the AT&T Center in San Antonio.

The undercard bout, which will surely affect the tight contender’s race in the promotion’s 145-pound division, was televised later during the WEC’s broadcast on the Versus Network.

Semerzier was making his WEC debut. Cornered by former WEC bantamweight champion Miguel Torres, he looked on the road to becoming another one of Fabiano’s victims, as the former IFL champion finessed Semerzier to his back and hopped to half-guard early.

However, when the Pedro Sauer purple belt would not give up mount, Fabiano posted to his legs, which allowed Semerzier the room he needed to latch on the fight-ending submission. Fabiano, who’d lost only once before in 13 career bouts, tapped out at 2:14 of the first round.

Semerzier, 28, improved to 4-0 with the victory and guaranteed himself a return engagement to the WEC cage.