Paul Craig throws a kick at Shogun Rua in their UFC 255 fight. Craig won the fight by a second-round submission due to strikes.
Paul Craig finishes Shogun Rua in round two of rematch at UFC 255
The UFC touches down at the Apex Facility in Las Vegas, Nevada, for the fourth-straight week tonight at UFC 255.
Headlining the event is a flyweight title fight between UFC Flyweight Champion Deiveson Figueiredo (19-1) and the No. 4 ranked Alex Perez (24-5), an absolutely incredible fight, though Perez is a replacement for former UFC Bantamweight Champion Cody Garbrandt (12-3).
Co-headlining the event is another flyweight title fight, this one of course for the women’s belt, as Women’s UFC Flyweight Champion Valentina Shevchenko (19-3) aims to make the fourth-straight defense of her title against the No. 3 ranked Jennifer Maia (18-6-1).
Opening up the main card tonight was a light-heavyweight rematch between former PRIDE Middleweight Gran Prix winner and former UFC Light-Heavyweight Champion Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua (27-11-1) and former BAMMA Light-Heavyweight Champion Paul ‘Bearjew’ Craig (13-4-1).
Their first fight was an incredible back-and-fourth affair, resulting in a draw. They’ve each gone 1-0 since then, which was exactly 367 days ago tonight. Actually, ‘Shogun’ has lost a single time since 2015.
That’s right, Anthony Smith beat him in 2018, but the last person to defeat him before that was Ovince Saint Preux in 2014, six years ago. He’s gone 5-1-1 in that time, until tonight. Continue reading to see if he kept that streak going, or had a halt put on it by the Scottish grappler.
Round 1
Craig opens up round one with a series of kicks. From leg kicks, head kicks, front snap kicks, he was getting them going early on. Shogun presses the action and takes the center, before Craig secures a double leg takedown.
Shogun got up soon after but was kept in a head lock. Craig ended up going for the anaconda choke, and had it locked in for a hot second, but was ultimately unsuccessful with it.
Shogun works his way up to his feet, before being double legged again. In a scramble, Shogun ended up on top, where he finished off the round. Craig nearly swept him, but the fence was in the way, keeping that from happening.
Round 2
The start of round two was looking pretty similar to the start of round one. Shogun ended up cracking Craig with a hard overhand right. Craig immediately turned Shogun into the fence, and before too long, secured a single leg trip.
He ended up taking Shogun’s back, but couldn’t keep his hooks locked in and lost the position. As soon as the two hit their feet, Craig was in on another single leg, and he had Shogun’s back once again. This time he was able to flatten Shogun out and reign down enough punches to get the stoppage, and the tap.
Official Result: Paul Craig def. Mauricio Rua via TKO (punches) at 3:36 of round two
