Top-10 UFC light heavyweight Ovince St. Preux notched the biggest win of his career Saturday night at UFC Fight Night 56, where he needed just 34 seconds to TKO ex-PRIDE/UFC champ Mauricio Rua.
St. Preux earned his second “Performance of the Nigh…
Top-10 UFC light heavyweight Ovince St. Preux notched the biggest win of his career Saturday night at UFC Fight Night 56, where he needed just 34 seconds to TKO ex-PRIDE/UFC champ Mauricio Rua.
St. Preux earned his second “Performance of the Night” bonus in his past four fights, making him $50,000 richer, per MMA Fighting. The UFC Fight Night 56 salaries are yet to be released as of this writing.
Stepping up to fight “Shogun” on a measly week-and-a-half notice, OSP was already prepared to square off with FrancimarBarroso on the same card and was clearly ready for any and all challengers.
The main event of the evening seemed to be over before it started, as St. Preux caught Rua with a big left hook as he came forward swinging an overhand right.
Before the Brazilian legend had a chance to recover, the Strikeforce import unleashed some vicious ground-and-pound, leaving referee Mario Yamasaki no chance but to wave the fight off.
The former University of Tennessee linebacker, who entered the matchup as the No. 10 light heavyweight in the UFC’s official rankings, has now won six of his past seven fights and has all but erased a lopsided decision loss to Ryan Bader at UFC Fight Night 47 in August.
While OSP deserves a lot of credit for the victory, Rua is clearly at the tail end of his career and has to seriously start considering retirement an option—if he hasn’t already.
After compiling a rock-solid 12-1 record inside the PRIDE ring, the once-feared striker is now a once-unfathomable 6-8 under the UFC banner.
With his 33rd birthday awaiting him on November 25, Shogun has lost four of his past five fights, getting finished in all but one of those losses.
Also earning a “Performance of the Night” bonus for his efforts in Uberlandia, Brazil Saturday was Leandro Silva, who submitted Charlie Brenneman in the first round of their lightweight contest.
Finally, a hard-fought bantamweight affair between Thomas Almeida and Tim Gorman netted each competitor “Fight of the Night” honors—and the $50,000 check that comes along with it.
Almeida won the bout via unanimous decision.
John Heinis is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA editor for eDraft.com.
Another night, another MMA veteran has arrived at a career crossroads. After being dispatched in under a minute by Ovince St. Preux at UFC Fight Night 56, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua now finds himself questioning where to go next.
At 32 years of …
Another night, another MMA veteran has arrived at a career crossroads. After being dispatched in under a minute by Ovince St. Preux at UFC Fight Night 56, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua now finds himself questioning where to go next.
At 32 years of age and having lost four of his last five fights, one wonders how long “Shogun” will continue before he decides to call it a day. Given his recent in-cage struggles, that decision may soon be made for him—at least as far as his UFC career is concerned.
This may strike you as somewhat revisionist, but the more I think about the Brazilian’s career, the more surprised I am by his incredible success. You could drive a truck through the holes in his grappling game, after all—particularly his defensive wrestling. Indeed, even his striking looks unrefined next to many of his peers.
At the risk of flirting with cliché, Rua fits the description of the stereotypical fighter better than almost any mixed martial artist I can think of. What he lacks in technique he makes up for with sheer dogged aggression and physical and mental fortitude.
Unfortunately, an overreliance on said attributes tends to make a fighter age less like a fine wine and more like a half-eaten apple. Beyond winning the genetic lottery, there is a simple reason why men like Bernard Hopkins and Randy Couture have been able to maintain successful fighting careers into their late 40s: They fight like they value cognitive function.
In combat sports, age is often less important than miles on the clock. In a very real sense, traumatic brain injury accelerates the ageing process. Reflexes are blunted, cognitive function erodes and resistance to future trauma is diminished (You can read my piece on the science underlying the fighter’s chin for a more in-depth discussion of both the short- and long-term effects of brain trauma).
The Brazilian’s decline is not dissimilar to that of Diego Sanchez, but it is clearly more pronounced. While the original Ultimate Fighter winner struggles to compete with the sport’s elite, he has thus far at least managed to remain conscious.
Despite this, I argued back in March that it may be time for Sanchez to hang up the gloves. The deterioration of Rua as a fighter is clearer still, but need it be so glaringly obvious before we make the necessary noises to nudge a fighter toward retirement?
I have long been at odds with myself on this issue. I place a great deal of emphasis on personal responsibility, yet remain conscious of the fact that personalities like Meldrick Taylor and Gary Goodridge exist.
Fighters need to be protected, and oftentimes from themselves. Postponing the conversation until speech is slurred and cognitive function is noticeably impaired seems like an extraordinary abdication of this responsibility.
None of this is to suggest that “Shogun” is punch-drunk or even unable to remain competitive. It is merely a reminder that there is a conversation to be had here, and it needn’t wait until the next time he wakes up staring at the lights.
Moments after scoring the biggest win of his MMA career on Saturday night, Ovince St. Preux stood in the cage addressing an arena full of empty seats.
St. Preux had just knocked out MMA royalty, finishing Mauricio “Shogun” Rua via TKO just …
Moments after scoring the biggest win of his MMA career on Saturday night, Ovince St. Preux stood in the cage addressing an arena full of empty seats.
St. Preux had just knocked out MMA royalty, finishing Mauricio “Shogun” Rua via TKO just 34 seconds into the main event of UFC Fight Night 56. Replays showed the counter left hook he used to drop the former champion was a thing of beauty and that the stoppage was purely justified after a barrage of punches on the ground.
But time and place are everything—and OSP had already conceded this fight was an away game for him.
It was creeping up on 4 a.m. local time in Uberlandia, Brazil, and those who’d turned out and stayed up through four judges’ decisions in five main-card bouts did so in hopes of seeing some old-school Rua heroics. Perhaps the only thing more astonishing than St. Preux’s swift victory was how quickly the joint cleared out when fans didn’t get what they wanted.
If the American noticed the mass exodus, though, he didn’t let on.
“This fight meant a lot to me,” St. Preux told UFC play-by-play announcer Jon Anik during his post-fight interview. “Shogun is a legend, I have a lot of respect for him. I’m still going to be a big Shogun fan, but it’s one of those things where in order to become a legend, you have to beat a legend.”
While legendary status is still far beyond St. Preux’s 80-inch reach, this victory effectively hit the reset button on his status in the UFC’s light heavyweight division. It boosted him to 5-1 in the Octagon (17-6 overall) and gave him some breathing room after a disappointing decision loss to Ryan Bader in August.
But it also had a strange anticlimactic feel. Referee Mario Yamasaki’s decision to step in and stop the action was met by shocked silence from the audience, who seemingly all reacted by immediately turning around and sprinting for the exits. It was an odd scene and might well go down as one of the quietest stoppages in UFC history.
Those watching at home were just as dumbfounded, not because nobody expected St. Preux to win—he came in as a slight underdog but shaped up as a tough stylistic matchup for the diminutive Shogun—but because the rest of the night had been such a drag.
It suddenly felt as though the previous three-and-a-half hours had been a lengthy instrumental introduction to a very short, very strange song—or like we’d all made a long, boring hike together to the top of a mountain, only to find a cliff and a sort of underwhelming view.
It’s equally difficult to root out exactly what this means to OSP. It’s certainly the biggest victory of his life. A glance at his career resume is now a bit jarring, seeing his fairly pedestrian previous victories—most recently over Ryan Jimmo, Nikita Krylov and Cody Donovan—topped with a first-round KO of the once-great Rua.
He entered this bout ranked No. 10 in the UFC’s 205-pound division and will certainly improve on that when the new media votes are tallied next week. But not even St. Preux himself could make good sense of it all. When Anik asked him if there was anyone he’d like to fight next he first looked to his coach for help before somewhat unconvincingly mentioning a couple of downright out-of-the-blue names: Fabio Maldonado and Anthony Perosh.
Not top-ranked contender Alexander Gustafsson or No. 3 Anthony Johnson. Not No. 7 Dan Henderson or fourth-ranked Rashad Evans or No. 5 Phil Davis. All those guys need fights right now, but instead St. Preux could barely half call out No. 14 Maldonado and the unranked Perosh.
So that put an even weirder spin on things.
The other factor that makes this a strange win for OSP is Rua himself. In the grand scheme of things, the positive ramifications for St. Preux will undoubtedly be overshadowed by the negative ones for Shogun. The 32-year-old veteran had already been facing near constant calls to retire, which will only be intensified by this loss.
The media wants him to call it quits. His family wants him to call it quits. In the wake of this abysmal loss, it’s possible UFC brass will even step in and force his hand.
All that will come later, though. Clearly, this night belonged to the visitor.
St. Preux took this fight on less than two weeks’ notice, stepping in for the injured Jimi Manuwa and rolled it into exactly the sort of catapulting victory that makes those opportunities attractive for UFC up-and-comers. He’s a likable guy and this high-profile win not only swept away memories of the Bader loss but actually made it appear possible that, at 31 years old, OSP might still cash in on his tremendous potential.
Here’s hoping matchmakers don’t take his advice. He deserves another Top 10 opponent next, even if his handiwork sent Uberlandia home with tears in their early-morning beers.
Sometimes we hate being right. Last night on Twitter, we predicted Ovince St. Preux would run through Mauricio “Shogun” Rua without effort. We had no idea how prescient our tweet would be.
As you can see above, OSP dispatched the Pride legend without even exerting himself. It only took 34 seconds. To make it worse, Shogun absorbed a ton of unnecessary damage as Yario Yamasaki let OSP batter the Brazilian’s skull. Such slack-jawed gawking aside, this fight was entertaining for the violent spectacle that it was. OSP isn’t a man to write off, and Shogun definitely needs to retire in this point.
There were some other fights last night as well, but they weren’t really anything to write home about (and if you did wrote home about them, you’d get a reply that’s like “What are you talking about? Who the fuck are these people?”). But in case you’re one of the TRUE HARDCORE ULTIMATE BAD BOYZ who comments about how much we hate MMA on our Facebook page, we’ll post the card’s full results. Check them out after the jump.
Sometimes we hate being right. Last night on Twitter, we predicted Ovince St. Preux would run through Mauricio “Shogun” Rua without effort. We had no idea how prescient our tweet would be.
As you can see above, OSP dispatched the Pride legend without even exerting himself. It only took 34 seconds. To make it worse, Shogun absorbed a ton of unnecessary damage as Yario Yamasaki let OSP batter the Brazilian’s skull. Such slack-jawed gawking aside, this fight was entertaining for the violent spectacle that it was. OSP isn’t a man to write off, and Shogun definitely needs to retire in this point.
There were some other fights last night as well, but they weren’t really anything to write home about (and if you did wrote home about them, you’d get a reply that’s like “What are you talking about? Who the fuck are these people?”). But in case you’re one of the TRUE HARDCORE ULTIMATE BAD BOYZ who comments about how much we hate MMA on our Facebook page, we’ll post the card’s full results:
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
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 sp…
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 JimiManuwa 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 WarlleyAlves 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 CaioMagalhaes 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.
Ovince Saint Preux was in the right place at the right time. He jumped at the opportunity to take a short-notice bout against Mauricio Rua and walked out of the Octagon with a 34-second victory on Saturday. As the Brazilian crowd looked on in sile…
Ovince Saint Preux was in the right place at the right time. He jumped at the opportunity to take a short-notice bout against Mauricio Rua and walked out of the Octagon with a 34-second victory on Saturday. As the Brazilian crowd looked on in silence, they were witness to a number of different lessons from the UFC Fight Night 56 main event.
The first lesson took less than a few moments to recognize: Saint Preux was ready to leap into the “deep waters” on late notice. Rua was caught losing his footing when OSP was about to pounce on him to finish the former champion via strikes. Rua tried to quickly get back to his feet, but he could not stop his opponent from pouncing for the finish. OSP looked just as shocked as the packed crowd as he danced around the cage in celebration.
This result reflects the close odds that were being posted coming into this fight. Even media professionals such as James Lynch of Sportsnet were not caught off guard with the win:
Second, the mixed martial arts community once again witnessed another all-time great go down in violent fashion. This is Shogun’s fifth loss since losing the 205-pound title to Jon Jones back in 2011. Of those five defeats, the last two have been by devastating TKO.
We have seen UFC President Dana White step in for competitors such as Matt Hughes and Chuck Liddell to keep them out of the cage; perhaps it is time for him to do the same with Rua.
Third, the UFC may have received an early Christmas present with the rise of Saint Preux. Leading up to the fight, the promotion pushed his college football career with the Tennessee Volunteers. The hyperbole provided by the UFC machine created the story that Saint Preux was a star player in every definition of the term. However, according to his alma mater, the UFC light heavyweight only earned three solo tackles during his two seasons on the team.
This fact did not go without notice by the media members who cover mixed martial arts:
Saint Preux will forever remember UFC Fight Night 56 as the moment he defeated a legend in mixed martial arts. This win opened the sports community’s eyes to a few different lessons pertaining to both OSP and Shogun as they prepare for the next stages of their careers.
Another night, another