UFC Sao Paulo: “Shogun” Rua And Paul Craig Battle to a Draw

“Shogun” Rua was pushed by Paul Craig tonight at UFC Sao Paulo, and while the legend didn’t incur a loss, he was unable to record a win.

Round one

Craig came out aggressively, firing kicks, and then clinched up. After a lengthy battle along the cage, Rua eventually broke free and then he shot in. Craig put Rua on the defensive with a choke attempt, before pouring on punches. Rua ate several, hard shots, but managed to survive the storm.

Rua threw some big punches before the round ended, but nothing appeared to land.

Round two

Rua pressed forward to begin round two and both men planted stiff jabs. Craig threw a body kick and the action spilled to the floor. Rua fired down hammer fists from above and moments later, he just missed with a huge right. Craig landed an up kick from below but Rua maintained top position for some time. Rua worked his way up and out of Craig’s guard a couple of times, but elected to keep working the ground-and-pound.

Round three 

Craig looked fresher than Rua to begin round three. Rua pressed forward and threatened with a big right, and moments later, Craig shot in. Rua defended the shot and took the top position. Once again, Rua managed to stand up, but he elected to try landing shots from above rather than moving the fight to its feet. Craig got back to his feet with less than 30 seconds left and both men fired huge shots. Craig took Rua to the floor, but was unable to do much with the position before the final horn went.

Wow. The fight is declared a split draw.

Here are the results so far for UFC Sao Paulo.

Mauricio Rua vs. Paul Craig declared a split draw (29-28, 28-29, 28-28)
Charles Oliveira def. Jared Gordon via KO (punches) R1, 1:26
Andre Muniz def. Antonio Arroyo via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Wellington Turman def. Markus Perez via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
James Krause def. Sergio Moraes via knockout (punch) – R3, 4:19
Ricardo Ramos def. Eduardo Garagorri via submission (rear-naked choke) – R1, 3:57
Francisco Trinaldo def. Bobby Green via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
Randy Brown def. Warlley Alves via submission (triangle choke) – R2, 1:22
Douglas Silva de Andrade def. Renan Barao via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26)
Ariane Lipski def. Isabella de Padua via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 29-27)
Tracy Cortez def. Vanessa Melo via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)