Rua opened the fight with a kick to the legs and one of his patented flurries of punches. Machida fired back with a punch upstairs that got Rua’s attention, but the Curitiba native was clearly intent on pushing the action and keeping Machida on the defensive. It was Machida scoring the bout’s first takedown though, but neither man was able to take control on the mat, and the two stood. Again, Rua went after Machida aggressively, and Machida responded with a takedown, and after a stalemate on the mat, the fighters stood. Machida stood in the pocket with his dangerous foe, but after missing a left hand, Rua clipped the champion with a right hand that dropped him to the mat. It was then that one of the game’s great finishers showed his stuff once again as he went immediately into the mount position and fired off a crushing series of punches that forced referee Yves Lavigne to stop the fight at the 3:35 mark.
“When I connected with the overhand right, I already noticed that he was going out,” said Rua, whose finishing sequence. “Then I took the opportunity to punch him on the ground until the referee would stop the fight, but I actually stopped punching a little before the referee stopped the fight. But when we see that opportunity, we go in there for the kill because sometimes in the fight you only have that one opportunity.”
With the win, Rua improves to 19-4; Machida falls to 16-1.
SHERDOG
by (bknapp@sherdog.com)
Rua knocked out the previously unbeaten Lyoto Machida 3:35 into the first round to capture the light heavyweight championship at UFC 113 “Machida vs. Shogun 2” on Saturday at the Bell Centre in Montreal. At 28, Rua again sits atop the 205-pound heap.
For many, it will be remembered as a night when justice was served. Machida took a controversial unanimous decision from Rua at UFC 104 in October. Shogun, who battered the Shotokan karate savant with kicks to the leg and body the first time the two met, waited seven months for his shot at redemption, and he made the most of it.
Rua ate some knees to the body and succumbed to a pair of takedowns early in round one. However, the 2005 Pride Fighting Championships middleweight grand prix winner dropped Machida with a right hand to the side of the head in a close-quarters stand-up exchange, followed him to the ground and moved immediately to mount on the dazed defending champion. A series of unanswered punches from the top left Machida limp, as Rua rose victoriously from his fallen foe, his arms raised skyward.
“Lyoto is a great fighter. He’s very good,” Rua said. “This time, instead of working and focusing so much on my kicks, I worked a lot on my hands so I could surprise him. I was happy with my new strategy.”
MONTREAL – His first shot at dethroning UFC light-heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida ended in a controversial decision loss and demands for an immediate rematch.In his second attempt, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua left no doubt, picked up a first-round knockout victory, delivered Machida his first career defeat, and staked claim to the UFC's light-heavyweight title.
The championship fight headlined UFC 113, which took place Saturday at Montreal's soldout Bell Centre and aired on pay-per-view.
Machida and Rua first fought in October at UFC 104, where the well-matched 205-pounders went the full five rounds and left their fate in the hands of the judges, who disagreed with most fans (and even UFC president Dana White) and awarded the champ the unanimous-decision win.
After the rematch was delayed by injuries, Rua finally got his second shot and wasted little time taking the fight to Machida. Whereas the first meeting was a strategic affair with both competitors throwing kicks from distance, "Shogun" quickly let his hands fly in the rematch. He clipped Machida with the blows before the champ took the fight to the mat on two occasions. But Rua quickly escaped, and after the second restart, connected on a beautiful overhand right that sent Machida crashing to the mat.
Rua sensed the finish and quickly followed with nearly a dozen punches until referee Yves Lavigne called for the TKO stoppage at the 3:35 mark of the opening round.
"This time instead of working my kicks, I worked on my hands," Rua said. "It worked this time."
With the win, Rua (19-4 MMA, 3-2 UFC), a former PRIDE 205-pound grand-prix champion who initially struggled after his move to the UFC, has now won three of four fights. (The lone blemish was the controversial decision loss to Machida.)
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