Yorgan De Castro wins EFC 47 main event after Junior dos Santos' injury

This was not the  Eagle Fighting Championship debut Junior dos Santos envisioned.

The affable Brazilian suffered a shoulder injury in the third round of his  EFC 47 headliner opposite Yorgan De Castro and could not continue, bringing a disappointing end to their marquee matchup at the FLXcast Arena on Friday in Miami. Dos Santos (21-10, 0-1 EFC) was forced to check out 35 seconds into round 3.

De Castro (9-3, 2-0 EFC) struggled to manage distance effectively and wound up swinging at air more often than not. Dos Santos fed him an unhealthy diet of leg kicks, body-head combinations and jabs for the better part of 10 minutes. However, the former  Ultimate Fighting Championship titleholder overextended on a right hand early in the third round and appeared to dislocate his shoulder in the process. After some unnecessary confusion, De Castro was declared the winner.

Meanwhile, the light heavyweight co-main event pitting former Bellator MMA champion Hector Lombard against Thiago Silva resulted in an anticlimactic no contest. Silva (21-9, 0-0 EFC) connected with an illegal knee 1:44 into round 2, and the cageside physician declared his counterpart unfit to continue.

Lombard (34-10-1, 0-0 EFC) had the Brazilian reeling with power punches in the first round. He nailed Silva with a left hook, backed him to the fence and drove him to the canvas under duress. Lombard took top position and applied his ground-and-pound, consolidating his efforts on the feet with effective work on the ground. However, fatigue appeared to set in on the 44-year-old judoka late in the period. Silva dropped him with a clean right hand to the nose early in round 2 but failed to control the trajectory of the strike that followed, a glancing knee to the side of Lombard’s head leading to the no contest.

Elsewhere,  Xtreme Couture’s Maki Pitolo cut down Douglas Usher with punches in the first round of their featured middleweight attraction. Usher (13-4, 0-1 EFC) bowed out 30 seconds into round 1, the setback snapping his nine-fight winning streak. He announced his intention to retire in the immediate aftermath of his first defeat since Oct. 16, 2015.

The 31-year-old Pitolo (15-9, 1-0 EFC) fought fire with fire and did what he could to keep the aggressive Georgia native at bay with kicks to the leg and body. Usher walked into a check left hook and faceplantedto the canvas, where he was met with a volley of follow-uppunches before referee Wayne Spinola could arrive on the scene.

Pitolo has rattled off back-to-back victories since being released by the UFC.

Finally, former Fight Nights Global champion Akhmed Aliev dazzled in his organizational debut, as he wiped out Darrell Horcher with punches in the first round of their lightweight showcase. Horcher (14-6, 0-1 EFC) succumbed to blows 30 seconds into round 1, losing for the fifth time in seven appearances.

Aliev (21-7, 1-0 EFC) wasted neither time nor energy. He missed on a left uppercut, then connected with a left hook before decked and dazed Horcher with a scorching rightcross. From there, Aliev drew the curtain with a burst of follow-upshots on the onetime Cage Fury Fighting Championships titleholder

The 32-year-old Aliev has won 11 of his past 14 bouts.

In other action, Andrew Sanchez (13-7, 1-0 EFC) cruised to a unanimous decision—30-27, 30-27, 30-27—over Gabriel Checco (12-7, 0-2 EFC) in a three-round light heavyweight confrontation; Islam Mamedov (21-2, 1-0 EFC) submitted Zach Zane (15-13, 0-2 EFC) with a rear-naked choke 1:50 into the first round of their welterweight confrontation; Ronny Markes (22-9, 1-0 EFC) was awarded a technical knockout when Reggie Pena (15-7, 0-1 EFC) submitted to a knee injury 1:21 into the second round of their light heavyweight clash; Roosevelt Roberts (12-3, 1-0 EFC) laid claim to a unanimous decision over Alexandre Almeida (21-11, 0-1 EFC) in a three-round lightweight encounter, earning 30-27, 29-28 and 29-28 scores from the cageside judiciary; Paulo Silva (7-6, 1-0 EFC) was awarded a split verdict—28-29, 29-28, 29-28—over Sean Soriano (14-9, 0-1 EFC) in a three-round lightweight tilt; Adi Alic (9-4, 1-0 EFC) took a unanimous decision from Shawn Bunch (11-6, 1-1 EFC) in a three-round bantamweight affair, drawing 29-28 marks from all three judges; and Dylan Mantello (5-2, 1-1 EFC) forced a doctor stoppage against Dennis Hughes Jr. (7-5, 0-1 EFC) in between the second and third rounds of their lightweight pairing.