Shogun: My biggest dream is the belt, but I’m no hypocrite
Shogun Rua: “Every fight is a dream come true for me. Every fight gets me closer to the belt. My biggest dream is the belt.”
Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua had 13 fights in PRIDE, losing only when his arm broke vs. Mark Coleman. He beat Rampage, and Randleman, and Arona, and Little Nog, and Overeem twice.
He entered the UFC in 2007, and got choked by Forrest Griffin. Rua bounced back with wins over a fading Mark Coleman and Chuck Liddell and got a title shot at Lyoto Machida. He lost to Machida for the title and then won it in a rematch.
His first defense was vs. Jon Jones and that went the same way everyone else does vs. Jones (except when Bones fights himself). Shogun bounced back with a win in a rematch with Griffin. Then he lost to Dan Henderson and beat Brandon Vera.
And then things got tougher.
Shogun lost to Gustafsson and got tapped by Chael Sonnen. He KOed James Te Huna. Then he had arguably the fight of the century with Dan Henderson, but lost. Then he got knocked out by Ovince St-Preux, his second loss in 2014. Just 1-4 his last five, it looked like an extraordinary career was winding down.
However, via some beneficial matchmaking, Shogun now finds himself on a three-fight win streak. He fought just once in 2015, beating Little Nog. He fought once in 2016, beating Corey Anderson via Split Decision. And on Saturday night at UFC Fight Night 106, he knocked out Gian Villante in the third. Villante was coming off a Fight of the Night KO win in December.
At the post-fight press conference, Shogun talked about the past, present, and future.
“I always try to evolve as an athlete, the cardio and technique, and I ask God a lot before the fight to be patient, said Rua, as transcribed by Guilherme Cruz for MMA Fighting. “The calmer I am, the better I fight. Sometimes you’re too nervous you use your strength more than you need.”
“I don’t get too tired in the gym as I do in the fight. The fight is different, so you have to concentrate and imagine it’s a training because the anxiety can take control of you. If you think how big the event is, that’s against you. You have to concentrate and be calm and patient.
“We want to win as soon as possible to guarantee the victory and I saw that he felt my hand a few times, but he recovered fast, so I didn’t open myself. The last knockdown, I felt he was hurt and knew if I went forward the referee would stop because he was worse than before.”
“I fight the best since 2005 and I never picked opponents, and the UFC knows that. I leave these things in my manager’s hands, Eduardo [Alonso]. He takes care of this. I pay him for that, so he takes care of this. And I pay him really well, actually [laughs]. My job is to train and fight.”
“It was my 35th fight. I face every fight as a dream. The UFC is the World Cup of MMA and the best fighters are in the UFC, so every fight is a war. Every fight is a dream come true for me. Every fight gets me closer to the belt. My biggest dream is the belt. I’ve accomplished my mission now, so it’s time to come back home and rest.
“I would be an hypocrite if I said I’ll be next. For sure, it has to be the winner of Glover and Gustafsson. They are ahead of me, and the winner deserves to fight for the belt.”