Updated at 6:40 p.m., Saturday, September 15, 2007
Lawler beats Rua in Hawaii for mixed martial arts title
Advertiser Staff
Robbie Lawler of Iowa defeated Brazil's Murilo "Ninja" Rua by TKO in the third round to win the EliteXC organization's middleweight world championship today at the Blaisdell Center Arena.It was the main event of the "Uprising" card that was televised nationally on the Showtime cable network.
Lawler dropped Rua with a right uppercut to the chin, then pounced and unloaded a series of punches to Rua's face. The referee stopped the bout, 2 minutes, 4 seconds into the third round.
Lawler improved to 15-4 with his 12th knockout. Rua, who was defending the EliteXC title for the first time, dropped to 14-8-1.
In other bouts: Jake Shields defeated Renato "Charuto" Verissimo by TKO in the first round; Joey Villasenor beat Riki Fukuda by split decision; Gina Carano defeated Tonya Evinger by choke submission in the first round; Nick Diaz defeated Mike Aina by split decision.
