Anthony Smith has only fought as a light heavyweight since June. Since making that change, Smith has knocked out two former UFC light heavyweight champions in Rashad Evans and now Mauricio “Shogun” Rua.
Shogun sought to take the centre of the Octagon, with Smith happy to oblige by backing to the cage perimeter. From the outside, Smith landed a right hand which sent Shogun stumbling, before pouring on a series of punches against the cage. Shogun looked in trouble, and that was confirmed as Smith landed a devastating elbow and a couple of follow-up punches to leave the Brazilian slumped against the cage.
This shocking win surely announces Smith as a dangerous man to look out for in the light heavyweight division – one which is badly in need of new blood. Smith provides that new blood, and plenty from his opponents.
On the mic during his post-fight interview, Smith took the opportunity to call out Sweden’s Alexander Gustafsson for another short-notice light heavyweight fight. Gustafsson was set to fight Volkan Oezdemir at UFC 227 on August 4th, but Oezdemir pulled out of the fight with a broken nose.
Corey Anderson beats Glover Teixeira
Corey Anderson earned a valuable win over Glover Teixeira to advance up the UFC’s light heavyweight rankings.
Anderson, who took the fight on just two weeks’ notice replacing the injured Ilir Latifi, dominated the fight on the floor and against, with Teixeira having little answer for Anderson’s credentialed wrestling ability. Anderson also impressed on the feet against a feared striker such as Teixeira.
Seizing this opportunity clearly paid dividends for Anderson as he won arguably the biggest fight of his career so far.
After three rounds, Anderson took the unanimous decision from Hamburg home with him. This was UFC Hamburg’s 10th decision of the night – a joint UFC record.
UFC Hamburg: Shogun vs. Smith full results
Light Heavyweight: Anthony Smith defeats Mauricio “Shogun” Rua by KO (punches) at 1:29 of round one.
Light Heavyweight: Corey Anderson defeats Glover Teixeira by unanimous decision after three rounds.
Middleweight: Abu Azaitar defeats Vitor Miranda by unanimous decision after three rounds.
Heavyweight: Marcin Tybura defeats Stefan Struve by unanimous decision after three rounds.
Welterweight: Danny Roberts defeats David Zawada by split decision after three rounds.
Lightweight: Nasrat Haqparast defeats Marc Diakiese by unanimous decision after three rounds.
Lightweight: Damir Hadzovic defeats Nick Hein by split decision after three rounds.
Welterweight: Bartosz Fabinski defeats Emil Weber Meek by unanimous decision after three rounds.
Featherweight: Nad Narimani defeats Khalid Taha by unanimous decision after three rounds.
Light Heavyweight: Aleksandar Rakic defeats Justin Ledet by unanimous decision after three rounds.
Bantamweight: Manny Bermudez defeats Davey Grant by submission (triangle choke) at 0:59 of round one.
Light Heavyweight: Darko Stosic defeats Jeremy Kimball by TKO (punches) at 3:13 of round one.
Bantamweight: Liu Pingyuan defeats Damian Stasiak by unanimous decision after three rounds.
