Maurizio ‘Shogun’ Rua is Back in the Win Column After a Brutal Comeback Win Against Tyson Pedro in Adelaide…
Believe it or not there was another UFC event this weekend, in Adelaide Australia. Homeboy Tai Tuivasa was headlining the fight night card against heavyweight stalwart Junior Dos Santos, with both men knowing a win would bring them very close to a title shot – although any win does that in the UFC heavyweight division.
While this card is definitely going to do horrible numbers, because Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder were boxing at the same time, there were a few decent fights on the card, with the return to action of MMA legend Maurizio ‘Shogun’ Rua one of the highlights of the event.
After getting demolished by Anthony ‘Lionheart’ Smith in his last appearance, many fans were hoping that ‘Shogun’ would call time on his career. The Brazilian answered his critics with a superb comeback against Australia’s Tyson Pedro and earned the stoppage.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvywDR7FvBc
Comeback
This was a big comeback for Rua who was tested early on by the younger fighter. Pedro is one of those really frustrating talents who has moments of excellence but demonstrates poor decision-making and naivety. He had ‘Shogun’ rocked and was unloading on him at will, but then instead of continuing to tee off on him, he made the fatal decision to go for the submission.
Rua was able to survive and come back. Pedro looked gassed out in the second and spent a lot of the time being worked over on the mats, with ‘Shogun’ able to dominate. Then in the third, Rua smashed him with a punch. Pedro’s knee buckled and he went down. Then the Brazilian poured it on until the fight was stopped. It was a tough loss for Pedro who also went down to Ovince Saint-Preux from a winning position.
SHOGUN!#UFCAdelaide pic.twitter.com/edIh5002ck
— UFC (@ufc) December 2, 2018
Defeated
It was a bad night for the southern hemisphere fighters. Absolute legend Mark Hunt made his final octagon appearance in a pretty dismal defeat to Justin Willis. At least his walkout was pretty awesome as the New Zealand haka was performed.
Rising star Tai Tuivasa also lost for the first time. He was defeated by Junior Dos Santos after referee Herb Dean intervened in the second round. Tuivasa was initially dropped by the Brazilian. He desperately tried to survive, as he defended from his back. but Dean had seen enough in what was a good stoppage. Tuivasa was frustrated, but he wasn’t getting back up from there.
This is amazing. #UFCAdelaide @BamBamTuivasa pic.twitter.com/0Nhel7mwF8
— UFC (@ufc) December 2, 2018
Results
For the full results see below:
Main Card:
Junior dos Santos def. Tai Tuivasa via TKO.
Shogun Rua def. Tyson Pedro via TKO.
Justin Willis def. Mark Hunt via UD.
Tony Martin def. Jake Matthews via Submission.
Sodiq Yusuff def. Suman Mokhtarian viaTKO.
Jim Crute def. Paul Craig via Submission.
Undercard:
Alexey Kunchenko def. Yushin Okami via Unanimous Decision
Wilson Reis def. Ben Nguyen via Unanimous Decision.
Keita Nakamura def. Salim Touahri via Split decision.
Kai Kara-France def. Elias Garcia via Unanimous Decision.
Christos Giagos def. Mizuto Hirota via Unanimous Decision.
Damir Ismagulov def. Alex Gorgees via Unanimous Decision.
