Struve kicked off the heavyweight clash with a dominant opening round as he got the better of Nogueira despite not dictating the pace of the fight. Nogueira tried his hardest to pin him up against the fence and land a takedown, but Struve refused to drop to the canvas. Even though Struve landed some brutal shots throughout the fight, he suffered a scare in the middle of the second round.

Nogueira, like he had tried to throughout the entire first five minutes, pinned Struve up against the fence and finally dragged him to the canvas while taking his back. Struve was forced to fight off a rear naked choke and he ultimately made it back to his feet.

Neither man budged from their original gameplans; Nogueira didn’t want to stand and strike with Struve and Struve did not want to grapple with Nogueira on the ground. Nogueira did a decent job with the takedowns, but they never led to anything threatening.

Struve, on the other hand, landed everything but the kitchen sink for fifteen minutes en route to his unanimous decision victory on enemy soil

Stefan Struve def. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira by way of Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

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