• UFC 134

Anderson Silva rolls over Okami

Anderson Silva finishes off Yushin Okami © Getty Images

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Anderson Silva produced a dominant display to overwhelm Yushin Okami to defend his middleweight title at UFC 134 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

UFC took the decision to take the sport back to Rio and the home fans were rewarded as Silva put on a tremendous show - controlling his Japanese opponent in the first round before swarming over him in the second on his way to a TKO victory.

"I'm training hard; I'm training hard for my team," Silva said after stringing out his UFC winning streak to 14. "I came here to fight. I train hard for the best guys in the world. I pushed the fight."

Silva kept Okami at arm's length in the first - using kicks and jabs to control the pace. Having sized up the threat his opponent, Silva stepped up the pace and connected with some punishing combinations.

Seemingly confident of the control he had on the fight, Silva entertained by dropping his hands and calling on Okami. The Japanese took the bait and went on the offensive, but he found Silva impossible to pin down and Silva secured victory with 2:04 left on the clock in the second round - avenging the defeat Okami inflicted when the pair met back in 2006.

With no Jon Jones facing him in the Octagon, Mauricio Shogun Rua demonstrated his class with a first round knockout of Forrest Griffin.

Rua suffered the worst defeat of his career against Jones in March, but he proved he had shaken off the loss by avenging his defeat to Griffin in 2007.

Rua landed a powerful right hand that sent Griffin to the canvas and from that moment the fight was over as he pounced and the referee stopped the contest with 1:53 on the clock.

"I trained hard every day for this fight," Rua, who is 20-5 as a pro, said. "Forrest is a very good fighter and I trained hard for him."

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira defied an absence from the Octagon of nearly two years to claim a knockout win over Brendan Schaub.

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira celebrates victory over Brendan Schaub © Getty Images

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Schaub made a bright start and several powerful shots slowed Nogueira. But the Brazilian simply refused to take a backward step and stalked his opponent throughout. He unleashed a left-right combination that caught Schaub flush on his jaw and sent him to the floor and resulted in a stoppage at 3:09 in the first round - much to the delight of the crowd who went crazy when their man finished off the fight and climbed the fence.

Ross Pearson put up a brilliant effort but suffered a split decision defeat to Edson Barboza.

England's Pearson took the fight to his opponent and threw a string of bombs. But Barboza's speed was in evidence throughout the fight as he proved elusive and scored with his different strikes - taking his opponent down in the second with a hard right.

Pearson proved his durability by taking the fight to the judges. Two came down in favour of Barboza - 29-28 - with the third judge siding with Pearson 29-28.

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