Mauricio “Shogun” Rua Going Under the Knife
In a new article by Brazilian periodical website, Gazeta Do Povo, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua discusses his recent loss to Forrest Griffin at UFC 76. Rua, previously ranked as the number one Light Heavyweight fighter in the world, was expected to easily run over Forrest Griffin. Instead, the TUF alumni dominated Mauricio for most of the fight, and even managed to end the bout with a mediocre rear naked choke that forced Shogun to tap. A dejected Shogun states, “I was extremely sad. That was the worst defeat of my career.”
Fans of Shogun, who have witnessed him fight before, are well aware of his ability to fight continuously at an extremely high pace. Those who watched UFC 76 saw a much different Shogun who moved a lot slower, was more sluggish, and worst of all, was almost completely gassed by the end of round one. Rua admits to Gazeta Do Povo that his game plan was to keep the fight on his feet, but after the first round, he was so exhausted that he wanted to take the fight to the ground with hopes of gaining top position. Shogun confesses, “I had never been as tired as I was during this fight.”
In the article, Shogun cites a knee ligament injury as one the reasons why he couldn’t train properly for this fight. Injury or not, Shogun also says that he is not looking to make any excuses, and takes full responsibility for simply not training enough for this fight.
Upon losing to Forrest Griffin, fans have been speculating whether Shogun should fight Keith Jardine or Chuck Liddell next. Sorry, but those hoping to see Shogun back in action soon may be a little disappointed. Mauricio has disclosed to Gazeta Do Povo that he has talked it over with Master Rudimar Fedrigo, and he’ll be going under the knife this Friday to repair the knee ligament injury. The operation will take some time to heal so Shogun doesn’t expect to back in training at the Chute Boxe Academy until late January or early February.
As for his loyal fans, Shogun has a message:
“I’ve learned my lesson from this and I will train to come back stronger than ever. My goal is the belt, the fight continues.”
The injury nixes a rumored match between Rua and Chuck Liddell at UFC 79. With other top light heavyweights Forrest Griffin and current champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson will unable to compete until early 2008 the division is suddenly lacking many quality matchups though Liddell, Wanderlei Silva, Houston Alexander and Lyoto Machida could all be used in a combination of quality bouts for the December card.
Tags: Chuck Liddell, Houston Alexander, Lyoto Machida, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, Wanderlei Silva
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Nice write up Derek. I read this on another site already, but so sad what happened. Kid had this injury for months prior to the fight and could not train properly. Underestimated Forrest’s potential, refused to withdraw from the bout even though it was more than clear it would hinder his performance and now so many people are holding Forrest up on a pedestal even though Shogun is the only named person he has fought and won against. Oh well, can’t wait to see Forrest crying in the ring again.
Thanks for the compliment millam3. I’m sure after a tough loss like this, Shogun will come back hungrier than ever. I look forward to seeing him back and ready in 2008.
Its not nice when a fighter has such a bad injury that forces him to under the knife, my thoughts are with you Rua and hope your op goes to plan and hope to see the “New” Revitalized and improved Rua back early in 2008. Good Luck my friend
It is too bad for both fighters! I thought Forest looked good but there is something to Shogun not looking like the Shogun I have seen in the past. Forrests style can affect someone like Shogun though. He won and that is the bottom line, I guess Forrest should be used to the pedastal thing. A couple of things for sure though, Forrest will fight anyone and he will give an entertaining show. I love to watch him fight and he definetely won this one. If Shogun wasn’t ready that is 100% on him and I am not going to take anything away from Forrest, remember Forrest requested this fight. I look forward to watching both of these guys in the future.
Shogun didn’t look like himself and now it makes sense. I still give Forrest all the credit in the world for going in there and defeating the consensus number one Light Heavyweight in the world. I think this is the best time to market Forrest Griffin and to give him a title shot. I don’t see why he has to prove himself any more; he just beat Shogun. I think Griffin vs. Rampage would be awesome and I give Griffin a legitimate chance of defeating Rampage.
i hope rua gets over this quick and comes back winning! nothing can be taken away from forrest, though i would love to see them matched up again it was a great fight.like forrest always says he can be matched with anyone and make it exciting.
It is good to know that there was a reason for his poor showing. I does suck though. I have been waiting for a long time to see Rua in the cage, but I guess I can wait longer.
Rua will come back better and stronger. Now he has a taste of true defeat where he was on top of the world and he got his rearend kicked. I think this humiliating defeat will humble Rua and he will come back stronger, sharper, since he has had experience in the cage and hungrier. Both brother lost the week prior to Lawler, so not he and his brother can both train really hard and get back to where they once were; for Ninja that is to get his title back from Lawler and fro Shogun to get back to being number one in the world.
[...] must really be a PRIDE curse going around. First we learned that Mauricio “Shogun” Rua needed surgery to repair a knee ligament injury and now news have surfaced that yet another former PRIDE fighter [...]
he had better not use that as an excuse for loosing.