Chael Sonnen chokes out Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua with a guillotine at UFC Fight Night 26

NOT even the most talented fortune teller could have predicted that Chael Sonnen would submit Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua at UFC Fight Night 26 Sunday.

Chael Sonnen

NOT even the most talented fortune teller could have predicted that Chael Sonnen would submit Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua at UFC Fight Night 26 Sunday.

But that's exactly what happened.

In the UFCs first event to air on FOX Sports 1, Sonnen (28-13-1 MMA, 7-6 UFC) pulled off a shock submission victory over Shogun (21-8 MMA, 5-6 UFC) in the first round of their main event bout in Boston. Sonnen clamped on a guillotine choke and forced the former UFC light heavyweight champion to tap with just 13 seconds left in Round 1.

Chael Sonnen

At the sound of the opening bell, Sonnen wasted no time pushing forward staying true to his 'scrap' fight style. As soon as he could Sonnen dove in on Shogun's legs dropping him to the mat.

Shogun made it back to his feet and the pair scrambled before Shogun managed to land a takedown of his own.

Off his back, Sonnen was unusually smooth, keeping calm and working to better his position despite Shogun's raining punches.

Sonnen managed to reverse the position and began his trademark grinding ground-and-pound assault. But with less than a minute left on the clock, Sonnen pulled guard and held on tight to a guillotine choke finishing the fight his back.

It was Sonnen's first win inside the Octagon after dropping two fights to former middleweight champion Anderson Silva and current light heavyweight champion Jon Jones.

Chael Sonnen

At the post-fight press conference Sonnen said he was lucky to catch Rua so early. He said the submission would have been much more difficult to pull off in the later rounds when the fighters would have been more sweaty.

"It feels good because it's Shogun," Sonnen said. "The guy's a former world champion. He's going to be in the Hall of Fame. He's beaten (Chuck) Liddell. He's beaten Forrest Griffin. He's beaten (Lyoto) Machida.

"He's beaten all these guys. He's beaten guys I've known and looked up to, from the Kevin Randlemans and Mark Colemans of the world. So yeah, it feels good.

"Whether you squeak out a win or you catch a guy in a good, tight lock, it's the biggest win I've had."

Rua has now lost his last two fights inside the cage.

FULL RESULTS FROM UFC FIGHT NIGHT 26

Chael Sonnen def. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua via submission (guillotine choke) - Round 1, 4:47
Travis Browne def. Alistair Overeem via KO (head kick, punches) - Round 1, 4:08
Urijah Faber def. Yuri Alcantara via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-27)
Matt Brown def. Mike Pyle via KO (punches) - Round 1, 0:29
John Howard def. Uriah Hall via split decision (30-27, 28-29, 29-28)
Michael Johnson def. Joe Lauzon via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-25)
Michael McDonald def. Brad Pickett via submission (triangle choke) - Round 2, 3:43
Conor McGregor def. Max Holloway via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26)
Steven Siler def. Mike Brown via KO (punches) - Round 1, 0:50
Diego Brandao def. Daniel Pineda via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Manny Gamburyan def. Cole Miller via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
Ovince St. Preux def. Cody Donovan via KO (punches) - Round 1, 2:07
James Vick def. Ramsey Nijem via submission (guillotine choke) - Round 1, 0:58