Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua TKO’d Gian Villante in the final round of their fight at UFC Fight Night 106 tonight in Brazil with a heavy-hitting volley of strikes after having bossed the stand-up exchanges in the previous two rounds.
Round One:
Villante with a jab and Shogun responds with a leg kick. They two exchange punches at close range momentarily. Villante with a leg kick that’s caught by Shogun and knocks his opponent off-balance.
Vallante coming forward with jabs, but Shogun clocks him and his legs seem to buckle slightly there.
Hard leg kick for Villante. Body punch for Shogun. They exchange and Villante connects with big hooks that hurt Shogun. Villante taking his time though and goes into the clinch which buys the Brazilian some welcome time to recover.
Back to striking range they go and Shogun blasts Villante with a hard right hand. Another counter right hand from Shogun connects hard.
Overhand right finds a home for Shogun now. Again he goes for that punch as Villante feels out with his jab, but this time it misses.
Big right hand from Shogun drops Villante, but he gets back up. Now it’s Shogun’s turn to be patient despite the crowd cheering him on for the finish.
Shogun fires off a couple of big punches, but they don’t land. Villante misses too as Shogun bobs and weaves.
jab lands for Villante, and then Shogun returns the favor. More jabs exchanged and then Shogun lands a right hand. Two-piece combo for Shogun to end the round.
Round Two:
Leg kick for Shogun. Both men miss with overhands and Villante lands a punch immediately aftewrards. overhand right for Shogun and a counter hook from Villante.
Again back to the overhand right for Shogun. jab lands for Villante. He almost connects with a left hook. Shogun continually looking for that overhand.
Leg kick for Shogun. Jab for Shogun and then a counter from Villante. Another punch lands for Villante. Shogun targest the body with a punch.
Back to the overhand for the Brazilian. It lands again as Villante misses with his own strikes. Leg kick for Villante is caught and he eats a punch as punishment.
That right hand yet again lands for Shogun. jab for Shogun and, you guessed it, the overhand right. Another righ connects, but this time Villante retaliates with a big hook.
Villante with a takedown, but Shogun gets right back up. overhand right drops Villante, but he seems ok as he gets back to his feet.
Shogun misses with the overhand this time and Villante just misses with an uppercut counter. Right hand over the top for the umpteenth time in the fight for Rua.
Leg kick for Shogun. He really times one final overhand right nicely before the end of the round, but Villante is showing his toughness to keep eating these.
Round Three:
Villante feels out with a head kick attempt. He lands a leg kick. Body punch for Shogun. Three-piece combo from Villante grazes Shogun’s head.
Shogun with a clubbing overhand right. Villante misses with punches and steps right into a huge right hand from Shogun that wobbles his legs.
Shogun is not letting him off the hook this time, pressing forward with more heavy artillery to the head and body that backs his unsteady opponent up against the cage in defensive mode.
Shogun unloads with a series of straight strikes down the pipe and Villante’s legs finally give out and he slumps to the canvas, leading to the TKO stoppage just 0.59mins into the final round.
So, an emphatic finish from Shogun here and he looked to be revelling in the moment afterwards as he extends his current winning streak to three fights.
