Any time a legend like Mauricio Rua steps into the Octagon, the eyes of the MMA community are going to follow. Shogun returned to his native country on Saturday to put on a show for the fighting faithful in Brazil. Few fighters in the history of the sport can match his 12-year resume Rua, and the former UFC light heavyweight champion hoped to add another dominant chapter at UFC Fight Night 56.
That said, his opponent became a tricky situation in the lead-up to the event. The 32-year-old former Chute Boxe standout was originally slated to face Jimi Manuwa in the main event, but the British slugger suffered a foot injury two weeks out and was replaced by Ovince Saint Preux. With OSP already set to compete at the event, the chaos surrounding the last-minute switch was kept at a minimum, and a new headlining tilt was set.
While Rua vs. Saint Preux didn’t carry the same caliber of excitement and potential violence of the original main event, the former Pride champion was still on the card, and that was enough to keep the event’s pulse alive. Yet, Rua had lost three of his past four going into the bout and needed to turn things around in a major way on Saturday night.
That didn’t happen.
Just 30 seconds into the fight, Saint Preux clipped Rua with a left hook that put him on the canvas. As the former Pride champion attempted to recover, the former collegiate football player unloaded a storm of punches to end the fight. The Brazilian crowd fell into a shocked silence, and Saint Preux picked up the biggest victory of his career.
Although there wasn’t a ton of name recognition outside of the main event in Uberlandia, Saturday night still featured some notable performances on Saturday night. Let’s take a look at the good, bad and strange from UFC Fight Night 56.
The Good
Making the most of big opportunities can make all the difference in a fighter’s career, and Saint Preux capitalized on his at UFC Fight Night 56. After Manuwa was forced out of his bout with Shogun, OSP jumped at the chance to mix it up with the touted MMA legend. While many wondered if the former University of Tennessee football player was jumping in over his head, it only took him 30 seconds to prove those doubters wrong.
The surging fighter clipped the former light heavyweight champion with a left hook during one of his signature blitzes and then finished Rua off with ground-and-pound a few seconds later. The shocking upset left the Brazilian fans stunned and silent, but it was a prime example of how stepping up to the plate and taking a big chance can pay off for a fighter who is looking to break through into the next level of competition.
In addition to being a career highlight, the victory over Rua came at a crucial juncture for Saint Preux. The 31-year-old Floridian recently had his five-fight winning streak stopped at the hands of Ryan Bader, and a stunning knockout over a fighter with Rua‘s name recognition will provide a boost for the Miami native to get back on track.
That said, when a true legend gets crumbled in rapid fashion, the moment can become more about his fall than the victor’s performance. Yet, Saint Preux will benefit in one way or another from his lights-out showing at UFC Fight Night 56.
*** There was plenty of hype surrounding the battle of welterweight prospects when Warlley Alves and Alan Jouban squared off in the co-main event. Both had looked impressive in their UFC debuts, and each fighter wanted to take another big step on Saturday night.
While the Brazilian striker started things off in furious fashion and hurt Jouban early, the Louisiana native weathered the storm and fired back with shots of his own. When the final bell sounded, Alves took the win via a questionable decision on the judges’ scorecards to pick up his second victory under the UFC banner.
*** After a few years of circling each other on the European regional scene, Claudio “Hannibal” Silva and Leon ‘Rocky” Edwards had to travel to Brazil in order to throw down inside the cage. Hannibal was making his second showing inside the Octagon, while Fight Night 56 would be Edwards’ promotional debut.
Both fighters have aggressive styles and put them on display on Saturday night. “Rocky” had the edge in the early goings, but Silva rallied back to win the latter portion of the fight. The end result was a split decision in favor of the Brazilian fighter, as Silva kept his undefeated record intact.
*** While Caio Magalhaes may have stumbled in his UFC debut back in 2012, Hellboy has made the most of every opportunity he’s had since. The 26-year-old Brazilian picked up his fourth consecutive win inside the Octagon by clobbering Trevor Smith in the first round at UFC Fight Night 56.
Magalhaes brought the ruckus from the opening bell, swarming “Hot Sauce” with a flurry of punches until a well-timed knee laid Smith out. Once his opponent was hurt, Magalhaes pounced and used a buffet of hammerfists (several to the back of the head) to secure the finish.
*** Being a highly touted prospect seems to agree with Colby Covington. The undefeated powerhouse already had a successful UFC debut under his belt coming into his tilt with Wagner Silva on Saturday and wanted to take another strong step by dominating the Brazilian grappler. Covington was successful in accomplishing that task, as he put Silva down on the canvas and locked in a fight-ending rear-naked choke in the final round. He now moves to 2-0 in the UFC, and his performance will cause the buzz surrounding him to grow even louder.
*** While Thomas Almeida also came into his tilt with Timothy Gorman with plenty of buzz, the Brazilian prospect didn’t exactly bring the “wow” factor. Granted, his striking was an effective weapon en route to making his UFC debut a successful one, but the young Brazilian’s face wore solid damage as the result of getting tagged by his lumbering opponent. That said, a win is still a win, but Almeida will have to shore up his striking defense if he’s going to have a lengthy run in the bantamweight ranks.
The Bad
Mixed martial arts is equally unforgiving to every fighter who steps into the cage. While some may experience periods of great success, Father Time will eventually come to call, and all things will even out in the end. Unfortunately for Rua, that time of reckoning has come front and center, and there has been no greater example for the once dominant Brazilian striker than what happened at UFC Fight Night 56.
Coming into his bout with Saint Preux, the former light heavyweight champion was fending off critics and lingering retirement talk. The former Pride champion had lost three of his four previous showings and needed to fire back in a big way. A fighter can say he doesn’t feel that type of pressure when it hovers overhead, but there is no way to believe Rua didn’t have a sense of urgency Saturday night.
Yet, the Curitiba native would come nowhere close to glory, as Saint Preux snuffed him out in brutal fashion less than a minute into the first round. Shogun was dropped with a perfectly timed left hand and then ate a slew of monster shots as OSP hustled to put him away. Once the referee stepped in to officially wave off the fight, Rua slumped down to the canvas, and the Brazilian crowd began to absorb the reality of what had just transpired.
And exactly what that is will be in the eye of each individual, but there’s no mistaking the overall feeling that Rua‘s best days are behind him. Furthermore, his days competing inside the Octagon may be done completely after Saturday night.
The loss to Saint Preux was his fifth loss in his past seven showings, with three recent stoppages. While he was handling business in his rematch with Dan Henderson back in March, he was still ultimately salted by an “H Bomb” and left starring up at the arena lights.
It’s difficult to watch beloved fighters fade out, but again, MMA is an unforgiving sport.
While several elements that were worthy of this category went down on fight night, one the worst was the madness attached to the scheduled tilt between Ian McCall and John Lineker.
With both fighters sitting near the top of the flyweight division, the winner had to chance to become the next challenger for the 125-pound strap. Uncle Creepy had been looking impressive as of late, while the Brazilian powerhouse appeared to have finally put his weight-cutting issue behind him. Everything was set for an exciting showdown for flyweight supremacy, but then Friday happened.
The first speed bump came when Lineker missed weight on his first attempt. While he would cut the additional half-pound to make the contracted weight limit, missing on his first try reignited the stigma that has haunted him since coming to the UFC. Yet, Lineker‘s issue would be a mild one in the grand scheme of things, as McCall apparently became stricken with a viral infection shortly after the official weigh-in, and the bout was scratched from the card.
Granted, crazy things are going to happen, but the timing of this mess is awful for all parties involved. The card for UFC Fight Night 56 wasn’t deep enough to afford losing one of the few matchups fans were excited to see, and that sentiment resonated throughout the MMA community on Friday evening.
Yet, the situation could actually be worse for both fighters involved. McCall was building a solid case to earn a title shot, but not making it to fight night on Saturday is going to set him back. As for Lineker, the re-emergence of this weight-cutting issue is going to create further concern. The UFC can’t throw him in a title fight unless it feels confident he’s going to make the weight. So far, he’s given the company nothing to feel great about, and that won’t change in the aftermath of UFC Fight Night 56.
Moving on to things that actually did happen on Saturday.
There has to be a point where you just start to feel bad for Charlie Brenneman. While The Spaniard rose to recognition back in 2011 after he shocked the world by upsetting Rick Story in Pittsburgh, Brenneman hasn’t came anywhere close to reclaiming that status in the three years since.
The East Stroudsburg native would go on to lose three of his next four after defeating Story and be cut from the UFC roster just north of a year after his most glorious accomplishment. Yet, Brenneman is a diligent fighter, and a successful run of four consecutive fights earned him another chance to compete inside the Octagon. Whereas some fighters fold up shop after losing their UFC association, Brenneman raged back with fury and was determined to make his second run on the sport’s biggest stage count.
Unfortunately for the Pennsylvania representative, that simply hasn’t been the case. The 33-year-old AMA-trained fighter has lost all three of his showings since scrapping his way back to the UFC, with his most recent coming via first-round submission at the hands of Leandro Silva on Saturday night. Much like his two previous losses, Brenneman struggled to hang with his opponent once the fight went live, and things went south in a hurry because of it.
While it is never a clear-cut ordeal, it’s difficult to see Brenneman holding onto his job after another poor performance.
The Strange
Whenever the UFC decides to schedule two events on the same weekend, everything turns strange due to MMA overload. While there weren’t many curious moments to be had at UFC Fight Night 56, there weren’t very many exciting moments either. It kind of just was. And after the storm of violence that went down on Friday night in Sydney, the card in Brazil didn’t stand much of a chance at upping the ruckus factor.
That’s not to say there weren’t good fights, because several scraps certainly entertained. But when 11 out of 11 bouts end via finish on the other side of the globe 24 hours earlier, very little is going to move the needle with the fanbase. Furthermore, when several of the scheduled bouts turn into absolute snoozers, there isn’t going to be much to keep fight fans locked in.
These things also come into play when writing a non-traditional recap article such as the one you are reading because I have a certain type of freedom to report the things that I believe people want to know. Over the course of writing this series, there have been events where I’ve left out a fight here and there because nothing was worth passing along. For UFC Fight Night 56, there was an entire stretch where nothing notable happened.
From halfway through the preliminary fights to midway through the main card, the fights were awful. The action was dreadful, and when the only thing that caught fans’ attention was a blatantly illegal shot at a downed opponent, that is a sign of just how far things had slid.
But hey…we’ll always have Sydney. Ah Sydney, what a card that was.
Duane Finley is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report.
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