In a battle of undefeated heavyweights it was Stipe Moicic who endured a tough first round against Shane Del Rosario to emerge victorious in the second after some brutal elbow strikes on the ground.
These two heavyweight engaged in a purely stand-up battle for almost all of the first round and Del Rosario was getting the better of it.
It was his kicks that were the difference, landing repeatedly to the right side of his body and his lead leg throughout the round. He also nailed Moicic with a clubbing left hand that forced him to retreat.
Miocic was able to land a few punches of his own during the round, but his most meaningful moment came with a takedown in the final 30 seconds of the round, though curiously he then stood back up with just 10 seconds to go.
Clearly seeing takedowns as an effective route to work back into the fight Moicic secured another one early in the second round.
From there he began throwing down elbow strikes to Del Rosario’s face and before long had him bleeding from cuts to his face.
Del Rosario was clearly hurt from the blows and Miocic recognised it and turned up the heat as he looked for the finish, landing repeated elbows to his head until the referee stepped in to save his blood-soaked opponent any further damage with 3.14mins of the second round gone.
So, Miocic retains his perfect 8-0 pro record and goes 3-0 in the UFC with a very good performance that showed off both his toughness and abilities on the mat, while Del Rosario picks up a loss for the first time in his 12 fight MMA career.
