CURITIBA, BRAZIL - MAY 14: Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua of Brazil celebrates after defeating Corey ... [+]
The UFC heads to Brazil for the third and final time in 2019 on Saturday for the ESPN+ streaming UFC Fight Night 164 card. In the main event, Jan Blachowicz welcomes Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza to the light heavyweight division.
In the co-main event, former UFC light heavyweight champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua fights in his home country of Brazil for the first time since he knocked out Gian Villante in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night 106 in March 2017. Rua, who is the No. 14 ranked fighter in the official UFC light heavyweight rankings, faces the unranked Paul Craig in this matchup.
The 37-year-old Rua is on the best run of his UFC career. He is 4-1 in his past five fights and coming off a “Performance of the Night” bonus winning knockout victory over Tyson Pedro in December 2018. His three-fight winning streak, the longest of his UFC career, which began in September 2007, ended in July 2018 with a knockout loss to Anthony Smith. Rua has only gone the distance in seven of his 37 career fights.
Like Rua, Craig is a fighter who either gets the finish or is on the wrong end of a finish. Craig has 16 pro fights to his name. None of those bouts have gone the distance. Only three of Craig’s contests have made it to the third round. That includes Craig’s last-second submission win over Magomed Ankalaev in 2018. Craig is 4-4 in the UFC and coming off a first-round submission win over Vinicius Moreira in September.
HOW TO WATCH OR STREAM UFC FIGHT NIGHT 164
UFC Fight Night 164 takes place at Ginasio do Ibirapuera in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The entire card streams on ESPN+. Prelims begin at 5 p.m. ET, followed by the main card at 8 p.m. ET.
UFC Fight Night 164 Prelim Card (ESPN+ 5 p.m. ET)
Sérgio Moraes vs. James Krause
Ricardo Ramos vs. Luiz Eduardo Garagorri
Francisco Trinaldo vs. Bobby Green
Warlley Alves vs. Randy Brown
Douglas Silva de Andrade vs. Renan Barão
Ariane Lipski vs. Veronica Macedo
Vanessa Melo vs. Tracy Cortez
UFC Fight Night 164 Main Card (ESPN+ 8 p.m. ET)
Jan Błachowicz vs. Ronaldo Souza
Maurício Rua vs. Paul Craig
Charles Oliveira vs. Jared Gordon
Antonio Arroyo vs. Andre Muniz
Markus Perez vs. Wellington Turman
