After slogging through a record-tying eight straight decisions, UFC on FUEL 8 was in dire need of a shot in the arm. Luckily, Mark Hunt and Wanderlei Silva delivered just that.

As the ghosts of Pride Fighting Championships surged through Japan's Saitama Super Arena, Hunt ferociously revived the card, shattering Stefan Struve's jaw with a third-round left hook to secure his fourth straight victory and thrust his name into title contention.

Then came Silva. "The Axe Murderer" and Brian Stann engaged in an early 'Fight of the Year' candidate, punctuated by Silva separating the American from consciousness with a vintage combination midway through the second round. At 36 years old, Silva would've heard calls for his retirement had the night ended poorly. But instead the legend arrived with his trademark brand of violence in tow, providing a fitting conclusion for a throwback night.

Holy shit Wanderlei looked good 2 night!!!! — Dana White (@danawhite) March 3, 2013

Amazing fight and beautiful knockout congratulations @wandfc — juniorcigano (@junior_cigano) March 3, 2013

Wow, that was an insane, spectacular thing of beauty @wandfc. What a great, great fight by a great warrior. — Bjorn Rebney (@BjornRebney) March 3, 2013

Hell yeah !!!!! — Edward Alvarez (@Ealvarezfight) March 3, 2013

So Happy 4 Wand and sad for Brian , but In a sport where putting on ur time means everything, Wand finds his Glory tonight ! — Edward Alvarez (@Ealvarezfight) March 3, 2013

Good to see @wandfc go out with a win. Good night of fights! — Costas Philippou (@Philippou185UFC) March 3, 2013

Wow, big finish to an awesome fight! Please retire on a high note Wandy. — Aaron Riley (@aaronrileymma) March 3, 2013

After the career Wand had in Japan the fight Gods owed him that.That was beautiful! — Chris Clements(@menaceclements) March 3, 2013

Lindooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo @wandfc — Antonio Pezao Silva (@BigfootSilva) March 3, 2013

@brianstann youre my Man you always fight hard! — Erik Goyito Perez (@Goyito_Perez) March 3, 2013

Gutted for Brian stann. — michael (@bisping) March 3, 2013

Wanderlei gave his best effort I've seen in years. Truly inspiring ... Awesome win! #UFConFuel8 @ufc #AxeMurderer — TJ Grant (@TJ_Grant) March 3, 2013

Hell yeah wandy!!! — Erik Jon Koch (@NEWBREED04) March 3, 2013

the legend is still alive !!! DAMN !!!! #WAND !!!!!!! #ufcjapan — patrick cote (@patrick_cote) March 3, 2013

Wanderley Silva with on of the best entrance to the Octagon at UFC and one of the best finish too :) — gabriel gonzaga(@gonzagabjj) March 3, 2013

And that was some classic wanderlei silva. Nice ko :) — Nam Phan (@NamPhanMMA) March 3, 2013

MARK HUNT SMASH

Holy shit Mark Hunt!!!!!!! — Dana White (@danawhite) March 3, 2013

Mark hunt is the man! — michael (@bisping) March 3, 2013

What a KO by Mark Hunt! The former K1 champ pulls it off! Thunder!!! — Cung Le (@CungLe185) March 3, 2013

Wowwwwwwwww congratulation @markhunt1974 — Antonio Pezao Silva (@BigfootSilva) March 3, 2013

That’ll happen if you stand in front of Mark Hunt for too long. #FUELTV8 — Jason Highwalker(@KCBanditMMA) March 3, 2013

Wow nice proformance by the SUPER SAMOAN mark hunt :) — Nam Phan (@NamPhanMMA) March 3, 2013

What the hell u doin standing with mark hunt? — Chris Clements(@menaceclements) March 3, 2013

Screaming at the tv pull guard, pull guard, to save poor struve congrats to @markhunt1974 #fb @mmaelite_alden — Roy Nelson (@roynelsonmma) March 3, 2013

Love the walk away KO ! — Louis Gaudinot (@LouGaudinotUFC) March 3, 2013

Great fight by @markhunt1974 !! Warrior heart as always from struve!! — Travis Browne (@travisbrowneMMA) March 3, 2013

Thanks for the support everybody, I wanted Herb to take the tooth out of my cheek and continue but then it turned out my jaw was broken.. — Stefan Struve (@StefanStruve) March 3, 2013

SANCHEZ EDGES GOMI

How the fuck did Diego win that fight!? Crazy shit — Dana White (@danawhite) March 3, 2013

Man if Diego won the fight backing up why couldn't I?!?! — Ulysses Gomez (@uselessgomez) March 3, 2013

@diegosanchezufcwhat happened?! You used to move straight forward and crush guys. Too much Greg Jackson i think — Chris Leben (@cripplerufc) March 3, 2013

I kinda thought gomi won that fight :( — Nam Phan (@NamPhanMMA) March 3, 2013

Gomi 29-28 im my opinion. Would you agree? #PrideNeverDie — Vinny Magalhaes (@VinnyMMA) March 3, 2013

Whatever... I thought Gomi won... No need to call out the judges, they never know what they're doing anyways... — Vinny Magalhaes (@VinnyMMA) March 3, 2013

that wasn't the same diego sanchez as the venumous fighter that fought clay guida back in 09. definate ring rust — Andy Ogle (@thelittleaxe) March 3, 2013

LOL! WTF! — Krzysztof Soszynski (@KSOSufc) March 3, 2013

Sanchez is one of the toughest guys out there when he is in a dog fight but when he fights a technical slow fight he seems to over think it — Chris Clements(@menaceclements) March 3, 2013

Bad call! — Louis Gaudinot (@LouGaudinotUFC) March 3, 2013

Another split dec at #UFConFuelTv8 can't see how the judges are seeing these fights thought gomi clearly won that won — Steven Siler (@Stevesiler) March 3, 2013

THUNDER OVERCOMES LIGHTNING

Good 3rd round from Hector but Okami put it on him for first 2... — Costas Philippou (@Philippou185UFC) March 3, 2013

shocked with all the split decisions on #UFConFuelTv8 a lot of close fights, Lombard/okami wasn't one of the close fights tho #horribledec — Steven Siler (@Stevesiler) March 3, 2013

Okami out there pulling guard like there's a "pulling guard of the night bonus" #UFConFUEL — Derek Brunson (@DerekBrunsonMMA) March 3, 2013

Which judge gave the fight to hector? Jeez judges pay attention — Ramsey Nijem (@RamseyNijem) March 3, 2013

the difference in lombard and okami's bodies is insane. okami dwarfes lombard in height and reach but lombard is as wide as tall — Andy Ogle (@thelittleaxe) March 3, 2013

Those muscles need loads of Oxygen... — Akira Corassani (@AkiraCorassani) March 3, 2013

Wow I really thought Hector wrestling was better than this. — Ben Askren (@Benaskren) March 3, 2013

Okami is a beast!!! — Krzysztof Soszynski (@KSOSufc) March 3, 2013

Anyone think Lombard will be on the chopping block? 1-2 in his past 3 fights and he costs a lot of sweet mullah. — Ulysses Gomez (@uselessgomez) March 3, 2013

Hahaha so okami has called me out. I'm real popular at the moment. Get to the back of the queue. — michael (@bisping) March 3, 2013

MATURITY AT ITS FINEST

DONG is really pounding away in there! #UFConFuel8 — Joseph Benavidez (@JoeJitsu) March 3, 2013

This is just too much Dong for Bahadurzada to handle. — Daniel Downes (@dannyboydownes) March 3, 2013

Siyar needs to reverse this and mount the DONG #UFConFuel8 — Joseph Benavidez (@JoeJitsu) March 3, 2013