BOSTON — Chael Sonnen snapped a two-fight losing streak with a first-round submission victory over former Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua on Saturday night at the TD Garden in a scheduled five-round non-title bout.
BOSTON — Chael Sonnen snapped a two-fight losing streak with a first-round submission victory over former Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua on Saturday night at the TD Garden in a scheduled five-round non-title bout.
Sonnen (29-13-1) earned the victory at 4:47 of the first round when he applied a guillotine choke.
“He submitted Shogun,” UFC President Dana White said. “That’s something I don’t think anyone saw coming.”
Rua, from Brazil, dropped to 21-8.
Midway through the round, Sonnen took Rua to the mat with a double underhook throw. After he landed several head strikes while on top of Rau, Sonnen turned Rua over with Rua’s head locked under his arm, forcing Rau to tap out.
“It was a hard fight,” Sonnen said. “I got caught in a position where I was not able to land a lot of shots. I threw a lot that missed. If he caught me in a guillotine, I would have tapped. I had him and he couldn’t slip out. It was the first round and we’re not slippery. If the roles were reversed, I would have tapped, too.”
The 36-year-old Sonnen, from West Linn, Ore., lost by technical knockout in his last two fights to Anderson Silva and Jon Jones.
The 31-year-old Rua dropped two of his previous three bouts, with decision losses to Dan Henderson and Alexander Gustafson and a TKO victory over Brandon Vera.