No one is invincible: That's the belief Mauricio "Shogun" Rua carried into the Octagon last night at UFC 113 for his rematch with light heavyweight champion Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida.
After their first fight, Rua discovered a weakness in Machida's once impenetrable armor. Though he'd come up short previously, losing a disputed unanimous decision, Rua knew he would prevail this time around.
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Mauricio “Shogun” Rua made certain there was no controversy this time around, taking the Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight title from Lyoto Machida with a devastating first-round knockout Saturday at the Bell Centre in the main event of UFC 113.
Machida, who won a highly controversial decision at UFC 104 in October, missed a right hand to start the closing sequence. Rua landed a grazing right and the two went down. Rua then landed a crushing right from the top that closed Machida’s eye and essentially ended the fight.
Rua landed several more blows before referee Yves Lavigne mercifully stopped the bout.
The fight was fought on even terms until the final sequence. Machida had two takedowns and Rua had landed several hard kicks.
On the undercard, Josh Koscheck outwrestled Paul Daley in a lackluster welterweight fight that was more notable for post-fight antics. Koscheck won a 30-27 decision and earned the right to fight welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre in December. The UFC had announced on Friday that the winner of the Koscheck-Daley fight would coach opposite St. Pierre in “The Ultimate Fighter 12.”
Daley, who is a power puncher, had no answer for Koscheck’s superior wrestling skills. Koscheck repeatedly took him down and while he didn’t do much damage, he easily controlled the fight and nullified Daley’s punching power.
After the fight, Daley walked over to Koscheck, who shooed him away. Daley then threw a punch at him, forcing referee Dan Miragliotta to step in. UFC president Dana White entered the cage and berated Daley for his actions.
The large and vocal crowd did not like the fight and booed lustily throughout. It frequently chanted obscenities at Koscheck, but the fighter upped the ante by ripping into the hometown Montreal Canadiens of the NHL.
Matt Mitrione scored a big victory over his much more well-known castmate from Season 10 of “The Ultimate Fighter” when he beat up Kimbo Slice and stopped him at 4:24 of the second round in a one-sided heavyweight fight.
The fight wasn’t the standup battle that many expected. In the first round, Mitrione and Slice were rolling around the ring. Mitrione nearly submitted Slice with a triangle choke, then later he worked for several other submissions, none of which got close.
“It was tight,” Mitrione said of the triangle. “I thought I had him, but then Kimbo put his thumb in my eye. Even the ref saw it.”
He was working Slice’s legs over in the second with leg kicks and it was clear that Slice did not appreciate the kicks and was unable to check them. He was backing away from Mitrione and trying to hide his lead leg.
Mitrione took him down and got a dominant position and pounded on him until Miragliotta stopped it.
“I feel like I softened him with those legs kicks and then when he went for that shot, I took him down,” Mitrione said.
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UFC president Dana White laid down the challenge to Internet phenom Kimbo Slice and the street fighter accepted it. Kimbo made it through his stint on Season 10 of "The Ultimate Fighter" and got two more fights with the promotion.
Slice went 1-1 in the UFC after the reality show, including a bad loss tonight at UFC 113 against Matt Mitrione. The fight was so one-sided, the UFC president decided to give Kimbo his pink slip.
"That's probably Kimbo's last fight in the UFC," said White. "Listen, Kimbo made it farther than I thought he would."
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