The action unfolded with a bang but eventually churned to a slower pace as the last three affairs went the distance, ending in almost drab fashion last night at Brazil's Bitetti Combat 4.  Arona returned from a two and half year hiatus and battled through the ring-rust to secure a decision on the cards versus MMA veteran Marvin Eastman.  Arona started well by snapping off leg kicks, nearly dropping Eastman with one that connected solidly, and was able to wrestle Eastman to the ground for the points in round one.  Eastman showed much more resilience in the second and found rhythm with his strikes on the feet, stifling takedowns and mounting enough offense to steal the round.  Arona looked revived in the third after a possible injury at the close of the previous round, igniting the crowd by deciding to successfully stand and trade with Eastman, punctuated by a takedown at the close of the contest to secure the win. Paulo Filho turned in another disappointing performance against the overmatched Alex Schoenauer, huffing and puffing through the fight to the tune of the booing Brazilians.  Schoenauer appeared to lack the confidence to capitalize on the sluggish Filho, waiting until the 3rd round to unleash the type of effective combinations that could possibly have carried him to victory had he implemented them sooner.  Filho took the decision in another uninspiring chapter in the Filho chronicles. Pedro Rizzo sprawled and brawled his way to a much needed win over Jeff Monson, shattering Monson's impressive seven-fight roll and recouping some respect after back-to-back losses.  Rizzo used his height, straight punches, footwork, and a sweet sprawl to keep Monson at bay and negate his smooth grappling. Murilo "Ninja" Rua turned in the most exciting performance of the night by catching Alex Stiebling with a torquing left high kick, then followed the fallen fighter to the canvas to deliver the fight ending blows.  WEC-hopeful Luciano Azevedo incurred a respectable split-decision loss to the submission savvy Milton Vieira in a high-paced and competitive back-and-forth war.  Full results: Ricardo Arona defeats Marvin Eastman by unanimous decision Paulo Filho defeats Alex Schoenauer by unanimous decision Pedro Rizzo defeats Jeff Monson by unanimous decision Murilo "Ninja" Rua defeats Alex Stiebling by TKO Rd1 Milton Vieira defeats Luciano Azevedo by split decision Fabio Maldonado defeats Vitor Miranda by unanimous decision Glover Texeira  defeats Leonardo “Chocolate” Nascimento by submission Rd 1 Luis “Besouro” Dutra Jr. defeats Henrique “Chocolate” Nogueira by TKO Rd 1 Cassiano Tytschyo defeats Fausto Black by submission Rd 1 Alexandre “Pulga” Pimentel defeats Luciano “Izzy” Correa by unanimous decision

< Prev		Next >