Munoz, Eddiva fall in UFC Brazil

MANILA, Philippines -- Philippine mixed martial arts suffered big blows as Filipinos Mark Munoz and Mark Eddiva absorbed painful 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, on Sunday.

Munoz tapped out after Mousasi sank a rear naked choke at 3:57 of the first round, sending the Fil-Am down in the middleweight pecking order while pushing the latter up closer to 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.

For Eddiva, he showed a lot of promise at the start, lost steam and got careless in the end and lost 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 City-based Eddiva, who absorbed his first setback after winning his first six MMA fights including an impressive unanimous decision triumph over Chinese Jumabieke Tuerxun in UFC Fight Pass in Macao, China last March 1.

Mousasi had all the answers to Munoz's takedown attempts including a slam off early in the opening round before fashioning out the submission win.

Eddiva, for his part, went on attack mode early and sent Souza in the canvas early.

As the round progressed, the Southeast Asian Games double gold medallist found himself rocked by a right hand from Souza, turning the rest of the round a delight as the two went on a series of fierce exchanges.

By the end of the first, Souza was left with a cut on his forehead.

Eddiva slowed down a bit in the second but chose his shots well and landed some punishing kicks on occassion but lacking cardio, the Filipino got tired and allowed Souza to land unanswered strikes forcing a stoppage.