In case you hadn't heard, Stefan Struve is a growing boy.
The 24-year-old Dutchman, already known as the "Skyscraper" at 6-foot-11, was introduced as standing 6-foot-11-and-a-half on Saturday night when he took on Lavar "Big" Johnson at the UFC 146 fight card at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
More importantly, however, the large and talented Struve showed once his bout with Johnson started that he's continued to grow as a mixed martial artist, finishing the tough Johnson with an armbar inside of 90 seconds to earn his third straight UFC win and a Submission of the Night bonus that helped him leave Las Vegas a winner with $128,000 in total earnings (not including sponsorships).
Of course, seeing Struve pocket a big bonus is nothing new, as Saturday marked his third career Submission of the Night. Figuring in his Knockout of the Night bonus against Christian Morecraft at UFC 117, Struve has brought in more than a quarter of a million dollars in bonuses alone during his three-plus years in the UFC. However, the way in which Struve was able to win was both notable and impressive.
Struve's greatest weakness in his UFC career to this point has been his ability to take a punch, as all three of his UFC losses have been by knockout...although getting knocked out by the likes of Junior dos Santos, Roy "Big Country" Nelson and Travis Browne is hardly something to be embarrassed about. Still, up against a formidable striker like Lavar Johnson - whose heavy hands had produced back-to-back Knockout of the Night bonuses against Pat Barry and the all-but-indestructible Joey Beltran - it wouldn't have been all that surprising if Struve had gotten caught again.
Instead, the Skyscraper absorbed Johnson's early assault, pulled guard, and quickly applied a Russian armbar for the win, requiring just 1:05 to do it.
The victory lent additional perspective to Struve's prefight comment that he hopes to have 50 or 60 fights in the UFC before he calls it a career. At the young age of 24, "the Skyscraper" is already a main card attraction with 29 pro fights under his belt, including 11 in the UFC. Speaking of belts, he has a purple belt in jiu-jitsu, which indicates just how much more room to grow in an area of his game where he's already quite proficient. The combination of how good Struve is now and just how much better he might get makes for a very scary combination in the UFC's heavyweight division.
