Brazil legend Shogun Rua stops Gian Villante in the third round:

Shogun Rua proves his doubters wrong once more.

The co-main event of UFC Fight Night Fortaleza, sees a Light Heavyweight contest between former UFC Light Heavyweight champion Maurício Shogun Rua and New York's Gian Villante. Rua returns to the octagon for the first time since his decision win over Corey Anderson at UFC 198 in Brazil, while Villante picked up a knockout win over Saparbek Safarov last December to setup a tie with the PRIDE 2005 Middleweight Grand Prix champ.

The opening round began with Shogun landing well with his boxing, before looking to catch a kcik and take the bout to the mat. Then early on, a right hook snuck in and dazed the younger Villante who recovered to survive. A big left hand from Gian then hurt Rua who also survived, great start to this bout. Shogun then with a right hand, tagged Villante. Yet another big right hook from Shogun dropped Gian, his boxing so far, is looking as slick as ever. Definitely Shogun's round.

The second round seen Maurício open with a leg kick, before Gian retuned a left hook. Villante then missed with a high kick attempt. So far Shogun Rua, was continuing his first round striking clinic in the second scoring well. Another left hand landed for Gian Villante, who then scored a takedown, but Shogun was straight to his feet. Shogun was dominating octagon control and ended the round with a left hand. Second round again to Rua.

The third and final round of this co-main event began with Villante needing to finish to walk away with the W. Shogun checked an early leg kick, before a flurry similar to our main eventer Victor Belfort, forced Mario Yamasaki to step between the fighters and stop the fight. Huge victory for Rua.

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