Muñoz, Eddiva bow out in UFC

MANILA, Philippines - Philippine mixed martial arts suffered a big blow over the weekend as Mark Muñoz and Mark Eddiva absorbed stinging defeats at the hands of Dutch Gegard Mousasi in UFC Fight Night in Berlin, Germany and Brazilian Kevin Souza in The Ultimate Fighter Brazil finale in Sao, Paulo, respectively.

Muñoz tapped out after Mousasi sank a rear naked choke at 3.57 of the first round, sending the Fil-Am down in the middleweight ranking while boosting Mousasi’s bid for a title crack against current division champion Chris Weidman.

Mousasi, a former Strikeforce champion, improved to 35-4-2 (win-loss-no contest) while Munoz fell to 13-5.

Eddiva, on the other hand, showed a lot of promise at the start but lost steam and got careless in the end, losing to Souza, who won their bout after referee Herb Dean intervened and halted the slugfest at 4.52 in the second round.

It was a sorry loss for the Baguio-based Eddiva, who absorbed his first setback after winning his first six MMA fights, including an impressive unanimous decision over Chinese Jumabieke Tuerxun in UFC Fight Pass in Macao, China last March 1.

Mousasi had all the answers to Muñoz’s takedown attempts, including a slam-off early in the opening round before fashioning out the submission win.

Eddiva went on attack mode early, sending Souza to the canvas. But Souza struck back later in the round and rocked the Southeast Asian Games double gold medalist and the two slugged it out with fierce exchanges to the delight of the crowd.

Souza sustained a cut in his forehead after the round. But Eddiva slowed down a bit in the second although he landed some punishing kicks then he lost steam, enabling Souza to counter with vicious strikes, forcing a stoppage.