Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Fortaleza Sell-Out & Renumbering Context
3. Quick Stats
4. Main Event: Gastelum Stops Belfort — Then Overturned
5. Barboza’s Flying Knee, Costa’s UFC Debut & The Card
6. Full Results
7. Bonuses & Awards
8. Records & Milestones
9. Legacy & Impact
10. FAQ
Introduction
UFC Fight Night 106: Belfort vs. Gastelum took place on Saturday, March 11, 2017 at Centro de Formação Olímpica do Nordeste in Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil — broadcast live on Fox Sports 1 to 946,000 average viewers (1.07M peak, 830k prelims). The card drew 14,069 fans in a sell-out, the second UFC event in Ceará and the first since UFC on Fuel TV: Nogueira vs. Werdum in June 2013. The main event was a middleweight bout between MMA legend Vitor Belfort and rising contender Kelvin Gastelum.
Gastelum stopped Belfort by TKO at 3:52 of round one — a result that was subsequently overturned to No Contest on May 7, 2017 after Gastelum tested positive for THC above the WADA threshold of 180 ng/mL. He was suspended 90 days (retroactive to the event date) and fined 20% of his purse. No Fight of the Night bonus was awarded. Edson Barboza, Kelvin Gastelum, Michel Prazeres, and Paulo Costa each earned Performance of the Night. Costa’s debut TKO of Garreth McLellan was the opening of a UFC MW career that produced the UFC middleweight title.
Fortaleza Sell-Out & Renumbering Context
The event’s number — UFC Fight Night 106 — reflected a renumbering caused by an initially planned Las Vegas event that never materialized. The planned Las Vegas Fight Night would have been numbered FN106; when it was cancelled, the Fortaleza card moved from its expected FN107 designation to FN106. The renumbering created chronological confusion in the fight-night number sequence. The Fortaleza sell-out of 14,069 reflected the UFC’s consistent ability to move significant attendance in Brazilian cities, even for a card headlined by a foreign fighter (Gastelum) against a local legend (Belfort).
Vitor Belfort’s status as a Brazilian MMA icon made him the crowd’s overwhelming favourite. The hostile reception Gastelum received — fighting in a sold-out Brazilian arena against Belfort with his TUF 17 win as career context — was one of the card’s pre-fight narratives. Belfort had been one of the UFC’s most celebrated Brazilian fighters across a career dating from 1996: his UFC debut had come at UFC 12 in 1997, where he won the heavyweight tournament. His main event against Gastelum was positioned as a middleweight contendership fight.
Quick Stats
📅 Date: Saturday, March 11, 2017
📍 Venue: Centro de Formação Olímpica do Nordeste, Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil (2nd UFC in Ceará; first since June 2013)
👥 Attendance: 14,069 (SELL-OUT)
📺 Broadcast: Fox Sports 1 — 946,000 avg. viewers (1.07M peak, 830k prelims)
🏆 Main Event: Vitor Belfort vs. Kelvin Gastelum — Middleweight (Belfort hometown hero in sell-out Brazilian arena; Gastelum 4-0 as UFC MW going in)
✅ Result: Gastelum def. Belfort via TKO (punches) — R1, 3:52 → OVERTURNED TO NO CONTEST (Gastelum tested positive for THC above WADA 180 ng/mL threshold; 90-day suspension retroactive; 20% purse fine)
Main Event: Gastelum Stops Belfort — Then Overturned
Belfort opened the fight with the sharp combination work that had defined his UFC legacy: crisp punching, head movement, and the kind of physical intensity that had produced legendary UFC performances against Bisping, Rockhold, Henderson, and Wanderlei Silva. He hurt Gastelum with early shots and visibly affected him in the opening exchanges. The Fortaleza crowd responded intensely. The first two minutes looked like Belfort was on course to produce another iconic Brazilian UFC performance.
Gastelum landed a jab and a left hook combination that knocked Belfort down. Belfort recovered and regained his footing. Gastelum then knocked him down a second time with a combination and rained hammer fists from above; referee Big John McCarthy stepped in at 3:52. The arena fell silent. The result was subsequently overturned on May 7 after Gastelum’s in-competition drug test returned THC metabolites above the 180 ng/mL WADA standard. He received a 90-day suspension retroactive to March 11 and a 20% purse fine. The No Contest result erased both fighters’ win/loss records for the bout.
Barboza’s Flying Knee, Costa’s UFC Debut & The Card
Edson Barboza’s flying knee KO of Beneil Dariush in round two was the card’s most spectacular individual competitive moment. Dariush was moving forward when Barboza launched his flying knee, catching him in perfect position. The contact was immediate and decisive. Barboza’s highlight reel finishes — which include a spinning wheel kick KO of Terry Etim and a head kick KO of Paul Felder — have made him one of the UFC’s most celebrated individual performance artists, and the Dariush flying knee is among his most viewed.
Paulo Costa’s UFC debut TKO of Garreth McLellan at 1:17 of round one was one of the card’s most commercially significant results in hindsight. Costa — a 25-year-old Brazilian middleweight who had gone 12-0 professionally before his UFC signing — displayed the combination of power striking and physical confidence that subsequently produced a UFC MW title fight against Israel Adesanya at UFC 253 in September 2020. His debut PoN on the Fortaleza card was the public UFC introduction of one of the MW division’s most physically imposing contenders.
Full Results
Main Card (Fox Sports 1)
Kelvin Gastelum def. Vitor Belfort — TKO (punches) — R1, 3:52 — Middleweight → OVERTURNED TO NO CONTEST (Gastelum THC positive; 90-day suspension; 20% purse fine; PoN $50k noted but result overturned)
Mauricio Shogun Rua def. Gian Villante — TKO (head kick and punches) — R3, 0:59 — LHW (Shogun 3rd consecutive win; turning back the clock in Brazil)
Edson Barboza def. Beneil Dariush — KO (flying knee) — R2, 3:35 — Lightweight (PoN $50k; iconic flying knee finish; Dariush moving forward caught perfectly)
Ray Borg def. Jussier Formiga — Unanimous Decision — Flyweight (Borg building FW contendership)
Bethe Correia vs. Marion Reneau — Majority Draw — Women’s Bantamweight (three competitive rounds; neither able to finish)
Alex Oliveira def. Tim Means — Submission (RNC) — R2, 2:38 — Welterweight
Preliminary Card (Fox Sports 1 / UFC Fight Pass)
Kevin Lee def. Francisco Trinaldo — Submission (RNC) — R2, 3:12 — Lightweight (Lee building LW contendership; future interim title challenger)
Sergio Moraes def. Davi Ramos — Unanimous Decision — Welterweight
Joe Soto def. Rani Yahya — Unanimous Decision — Bantamweight
Michel Prazeres def. Josh Burkman — Submission (north-south choke) — R1, 1:42 — Welterweight (PoN $50k; Prazeres back-to-back submission bonuses)
Jeremy Kennedy def. Rony Jason — Unanimous Decision — Featherweight
Paulo Costa def. Garreth McLellan — TKO — R1, 1:17 — Middleweight (PoN $50k; COSTA’S UFC DEBUT; future UFC MW title challenger; 13-0 entering UFC)
Bonuses & Awards
🥇 Fight of the Night: NOT AWARDED
🥇 Performance of the Night: Kelvin Gastelum + Edson Barboza + Michel Prazeres + Paulo Costa — $50,000 each
Records & Milestones
• Fortaleza sell-out 14,069 — 2nd UFC event in Ceará; largest UFC crowd in the state.
• Paulo Costa’s UFC debut — the beginning of a MW career that produced a UFC title fight at UFC 253 (September 2020).
• Main event result overturned to No Contest — one of the rare cases where a UFC main event winner was stripped post-fight for a marijuana positive above WADA threshold.
Legacy & Impact
Paulo Costa’s debut TKO was the beginning of a 5-0 UFC MW start that produced a title fight against Israel Adesanya at UFC 253. He lost by second-round TKO but established himself as one of the most physically imposing contenders in MW history. Edson Barboza’s flying knee of Dariush was added to the highlight compilation that would eventually produce recognition as one of the UFC’s most skilled individual strikers at lightweight. Kevin Lee’s submission of Trinaldo was a step in his LW contendership that produced an interim title fight against Tony Ferguson at UFC 216 in October 2017.
The Gastelum-Belfort result’s overturning was one of the more consequential post-event drug test decisions of 2017 because it affected the UFC’s MW title picture: Gastelum had been scheduled to face Anderson Silva at UFC 212 before his provisional suspension removed him from the card. Belfort’s career continued with two more UFC fights — a loss to Nate Marquardt at UFC Fight Night 112 and a loss to Lyoto Machida at UFC Fight Night 119 — before his career wound down. Mauricio Shogun Rua’s 3rd consecutive win in Fortaleza was a career renaissance moment, though subsequent losses to Anthony Smith and Tyson Pedro ended the streak.
FAQ
Why was the event number changed from FN107 to FN106?
An initially planned UFC Fight Night 106 in Las Vegas, Nevada was cancelled before any fights were booked publicly. Because the Las Vegas event would have been FN106, the Fortaleza card was originally assigned FN107. When the Las Vegas event was scrapped, the Fortaleza card moved to FN106 to maintain sequential numbering. The same renumbering also affected the subsequent London card (FN107) which had originally been assigned FN108. This kind of number shift has occurred multiple times in UFC history when planned events are cancelled.
How did Gastelum’s marijuana test work?
USADA applies a threshold of 150 ng/mL for THC metabolites before issuing an anti-doping violation; the UFC also follows WADA’s 180 ng/mL standard for in-competition tests. Gastelum’s in-competition sample from March 11 returned THC metabolites above 180 ng/mL, triggering a WADA-standard violation. This is distinct from the state athletic commission threshold that applied to the Houston card’s three marijuana positives (Blaydes, Price, Trujillo) — where USADA did not pursue violations because their samples were below 150 ng/mL. Gastelum’s above-WADA-threshold positive triggered both a UFC suspension and the result’s overturning.
What was special about Barboza’s flying knee KO?
Barboza’s flying knee of Dariush was notable for two reasons: the technical execution and the targeting. Dariush was moving forward aggressively when Barboza launched, meaning Dariush’s own forward momentum compounded the knee’s kinetic energy on contact. Barboza has been one of the UFC’s most diverse kicking technicians, with highlight finishes via wheel kick, head kick, and body kick in addition to flying knees. The Dariush finish was one of the most viewed of his career clips and was consistently included in UFC highlight compilations.
Who was Paulo Costa before his UFC debut?
Costa was a 25-year-old Brazilian middleweight from Contagem, Minas Gerais, who had gone 12-0 professionally before his UFC signing. He had competed primarily in Brazil’s regional Jungle Fight promotion and the BRAVE CF circuit. His physical profile was distinctive: at 185 lb, he had an unusually developed musculature for the weight class and a forward-pressure striking style built around body and head combinations. His Fortaleza debut — on a card headlined by the most famous Brazilian MMA fighter — gave him maximum exposure for a debut performance.
What was Shogun Rua’s significance in 2017?
Mauricio Shogun Rua was 35 years old at the Fortaleza card, a former UFC LHW champion (April 2010 – October 2011) who had experienced a difficult post-title career phase before his 2015-2016 run of consecutive wins over Nogueira, Corey Anderson, and Villante. His TKO of Villante in round three was his third straight UFC win, a streak that temporarily made him appear a viable top-five LHW contender. The Fortaleza crowd’s warmth for Shogun — a Brazilian MMA icon in his own right — was a secondary narrative on a card otherwise dominated by the Belfort main event.
What was Kevin Lee’s career trajectory at this point?
Lee was a 24-year-old Detroit lightweight who had won his last four UFC fights entering the Fortaleza card, including a first-round guillotine of James Moontasri and a unanimous decision over Efrain Escudero. His submission of Trinaldo — a durable Brazilian veteran who had gone 7-1-1 in the UFC before the loss — was the most significant win of his career to that point. His trajectory produced a loss to Tony Ferguson in the UFC LW interim title fight at UFC 216 in October 2017, a career-defining high-profile appearance despite the loss.