Shogun: Retirement talk bothers me a little bit

Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua has been fighting professionally since 2002. He went 16-2 before entering the UFC in 2009. Fighting the best in the UFC’s deep light heavyweight division, he has gone 8-8, winning the belt in 2009. He lost both fights in 2014, but has since gone 2-0 vs. a diminished Little Nog and Corey Anderson. Still, some fans wish at 35 that he would retire. Instead, he is fighting Gian Villante at UFC Fight Night 107 on March 11, 2017, in Fortaleza, Brazil. And during a recent interview with Fernanda Prates for MMAjunkie the fighter answered critics talking about his retirement.

The subject bothers me a little, said Rua. Because I’m experienced – I’ve been fighting for many years – but I’m also a young guy. I’m 35. People stop at 40, 38, 39. Depends. I think every athlete has the liberty to stop whenever they want.

People speculate that a lot about me because I’ve had a few losses, but everyone has losses. So if a doctor doesn’t perform a perfect surgery, they need to retire? If a dentist doesn’t perfectly extract a tooth, they need to retire? A businesswoman goes into a meeting and it’s not successful, she needs to retire? If I’m happy to be fighting, and the UFC is happy to have me fighting for them, I don’t know why people are so bothered by it.

My focus for 2017 is for sure to do two or three fights. I think, two at least – that’s my focus for every year. I try to always look after myself. Now I’m 100 percent, thankfully. I had tendinitis on my knee, and that got in the way of training. That’s healed up, and hopefully I won’t have any more injuries this year.

Villante is coming off a Fight of the Night TKO over Saparbek Safarov at UFC Fight Night 102 on December 9, 2016. He is 5-4 overall in the UFC.

Villante is a tough guy,” said Rua. “He likes Muay Thai. He likes striking. … I prefer fighting guys who go for it rather than those who stall. I’d rather fight guys like him. He’s very good. He’s good at wrestling, good at muay Thai. And for sure it’s going to be a tough fight.

I’ve had that experience in which I had the belt in mind before my immediate fight, and it wasn’t good. So my focus now is 100 percent on him, and I know that if I win, I will be closer to the belt.