Shogun: ‘There was nothing we could have done’

Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and several companions were recently carjacked at rifle point, while travelling from Rio de Janeiro’s famed Barra borough to the city of Niterói, across Guanabara Bay from Rio.

Many Brazilians feel that their government is allocating funds for prestigious events like the World Cup, while neglecting less dazzing tasks, like, well, people being robbed at gunpoint by four men.

Rua spoke about it with MMAFighting‘s man in Brazil, Guilherme Cruz.

“I was doing a photoshoot with Jose Aldo for Venum, and a friend of mine, Pixote, drove me there,” said Rua. “After that, we picked up Eduardo and Demian at their hotel in Barra da Tijuca and went to dinner at a restaurant. We watched the UFC and then left them at their hotel.”

“Pixote was taking me back to Niteroi, and when we were about to get to the Rio-Niteroi bridge, a car stopped in front of us and four men jumped out of it with guns. There was nothing we could have done.

“I left everything inside the car. I thought about getting my wallet and phone, but maybe they would think I was getting a gun so I left everything there. We were at Linha Vermelha, at 2:30 a.m., and we had to walk two miles to get at the nearest police station. I’m glad no one got hurt.”

“It’s going to be safe during the World Cup, with more cops and army in the streets, but then what? And what about the rest of our lives? It’s going to be like it is today? There’s no point of doing a special plan during the World Cup and then it’s over. We pay taxes to have security the whole year, not only for a month during the World Cup.”

“In a country like Brazil, when you have major issues to solve as violence and health care, the government spends money with sports. They don’t use the money correctly in Brazil. Rio and Sao Paulo are the most dangerous cities, but the whole country is dangerous. But what impressed me the most in this situation was that they were using rifles.”

The World Cup starts June 12.