What a night UFC 110 was.

A prospect in Cain Valasquez turned into a contender with a vicious one round knockout over a legend in Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira. Bader continues to impress against an awkward and dangerous Keith Jardine. A more cautious Wanderlei Silva picked his spots to earn a decision over a younger (and much better than I anticipated) Michael Bisping. Even the mismatch to begin the show was made memorable, as Mirko Cro Cop hailed his overmatched opponent as showing the world what a Croatian heart is — reminding us that his Australian opponent was, like him, of Croatian heritage. All of these were punctuated by a wild Australian crowd, which contributed some of its own — at one point, hilariously chanting “Bisping’s a wanker!”

But to me, the UFC 110 highlight reel really belonged to one man: George Sotiropoulos, whose potent mix of jiu-jitsu and boxing carried the day in the fight of the night against Joe Stevenson.

If you missed the fight, watch it now — it’s out there, somewhere, for you. Then come back here.

Done? Great. You’re welcome.

It had been a long time coming for George, this moment in the sun. Last night, he heard thousands of Australian fans chant “Georgie” as he dominated a former title contender on a PPV main card fight for the first time. His travels and constant training, which took him from Australia to Guam, to Japan to New York, and finally now in Washington State — had finally paid off.

He enjoyed a good showing on TUF 5 — often seeming the competition’s best fighter — but lost shockingly to Tommy Speer, who has since dissappeared from contention. As Speer faded away, Sotiropoulos racked up win after win, but still failed to find the PPV spotlight.

On Saturday, all that changed. The best fighter it seemed, doesn’t always win. But Saturday proved that his day comes.

The best highlights were some of the adept groundwork we’ve come to expect from George. A gif was made of his BJJ 101 pass over a butterfly guard here from Smoogy off the Underground Forum. A guy who goes by the nick Zombie Prophet, of Sherdog’s forum, posted a nice gif here of the makings of a sweep, which began from what the 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu guys call “Mission Control.” Sotiropoulos slips back into an omo plata, and then a sweep as Stevenson defended his shoulder. I love how Sotiropoulos walks off the cage to angle the shoulder lock as he controls Stevenson’s wrist. Poetry in motion.

I met George Sotiropoulos a couple of years ago when he conducted a seminar with Enson Inoue in Vancouver, WA. (He now trains out of the same gym, and its head instructor Leonard Gabriel cornered him for this bout.) The resulting interview (parts one and two) focused mostly on Inoue, but it offers some insight on Sotiropoulos as well. At that time, Sotiropoulos had moved to Long Island to train with Matt Serra, who he credited with improving all aspects of his game. He also mentioned that while other contestants struggled with adapting to the TUF competition, for him it felt like home. His life, he said, wasn’t that different now — he only needed to get to the gym himself, rather than ride in the van that Team Serra rode in for TUF.

Here’s hoping George is enjoying it. This success has been a long time coming, and it’s great to his hard work pay off.