LAS VEGAS – John Howard said he wanted to test the stand-up striking skills of a feared kickboxer like Siyar Bahadurzada, but he also wanted to show a little love to one of his own personal heroes in former UFC welterweight champ Matt Hughes.

As luck would have it, he got to do both in his prelimary-card bout at UFC 168. After trading with Bahadurzada (21-6-1 MMA, 1-2 UFC) off the feet, Howard (22-8 MMA, 6-3 UFC) also scooped him up for a big slam, and in the end it was enough to earn him a unanimous-decision victory. With his second consecutive victory in the octagon, he may have demonstrated that, after two years away, the UFC is where he belongs.

“I believed for years I belonged here,” Howard told reporters after his win. “I had a little bad luck with three losses in a row, but I’m trying to prove that I belong here. I hope with this dominant performance I can prove that, that I belong in the UFC. I’m top-10 material, and I proved to the UFC that not only can I fight at 185 , I can be dominant at 170.”

Bahadurzada may have started strong in the fight, but when he slowed in the later rounds it was Howard who took over. When he lifted Bahadurzada off his feet, he said, “I was looking for my corner. I was like, ‘Where you at?’ They said, ‘Over here, over here!’”

That’s when Howard carried him over for the slam, he said, and “it felt really good to do that.”

One of the mysteries to come out of the bout was what sounded suspiciously like someone passing gas during the fight. The microphones picked it up, and of course it became a hot topic on social media, and even Howard had to admit that it was funny, though he wasn’t about to take responsibility for the fart.

“I think it was him,” Howard said. “I don’t think it was me. I’m pretty sure it was him.”

For complete coverage of UFC 168, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of the site.