The UFC Fight Night 56 card from Brazil got a late switch last week when headliner Jimi Manuwa was forced to withdraw from his scheduled bout against Mauricio “Shogun” Rua due to a broken leg.
Stepping in as a late replacement was Ovince St. Preux, who takes on the former UFC Light Heavyweight champion tomorrow evening in a five round affair. Shogun, speaking with MMAFighting prior to his battle tomorrow, noted that St. Preux may look to employ the “lay and pray” technique, but the Brazilian is prepared to thwart the attack.
“He always tries to go for the ground and pound, but I trained for every situation,” Rua said earlier this week. “He may try to lay and pray, hold me on the ground, but I have trained this with my team.”
“We have a lot of great fighters at the gym, I had a sparring who fights exactly like St. Preux,” Rua continued. “I don’t believe anyone will be in advantage on Saturday night because of the opponent’s change, since he also had his opponent changed twice. I had one week to adapt.”
Stick with FightHubTV throughout the weekend as we will have full coverage of both UFC Fight Night 55 and 56 tonight and tomorrow.
