Both fighters exchanged leg kicks to open the fight. Rua went for an overhand right and missed. St. Preux slipped the overhand right and threw a left hook that dropped the Brazilian. St.Preux pounced on a fallen Rua with ground and pound punches and referee Mario Yamasaki gave Rua a chance to defend himself. Rua wasn’t able to intelligently defend himself and Yamasaki stopped the fight.
“I’m still going to be a big ‘Shogun’ fan, but it’s one of those things, in order to become a legend, you’ve got to beat a legend, so that’s what I did that tonight,” St. Preux said in his post-fight interview.
Rua is now 1-4 in his last five fights.
St.Preux, who stepped in for an injured Jimi Manuwa last Wednesday is now 5-1 in the UFC did not say who he wanted to face next.
Here are the results from UFC Fight Night 56:
- Ovince Saint Preux def. Mauricio Rua via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 0:34 - Warlley Alves def. Alan Jouban via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) - Claudio Silva def. Leon Edwards via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28) - Dhiego Lima def. Jorge Oliveira via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) - Juliana Lima def. Nina Ansaroff via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) - Diego Rivas def. Rodolfo Rubio via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) - Caio Magalhaes def. Trevor Smith via knockout (knee, punches) – Round 1, 0:31 - Leandro Silva def. Charlie Brenneman via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 1 4:15 - Thomas Almeida def. Tim Gorman via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28) - Colby Covington def. Wagner Silva via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 3, 3:26
Steven Muehlhausen is an MMA writer and contributor for Sporting News. Find him on Twitter @SMuehlhausenMMA.
