Shogun Rua, a Mirage?

Born in Curitiba in Brazil, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, who is at a ripe age of 28, needs to prove to the world that he still belongs in the top rankings of the light heavyweight division. Shogun was highly touted in PRIDE, with big victories by knockout on Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, Alistair Overeem, Ricardo Arona, and a unanimous decision over Antonio Rogeiro Nogueira. Shogun was the man to defeat in PRIDE and was feared by many fighters.

However, in 2007, Shogun made his debut in the octagon in UFC 76 against the winner of the first Ultimate Fighter, Forest Griffin. Entering the fight Shogun's MMA record was 16-2 with 13 of those victories by knockout. Shogun was considered as the heavy favorite to win the fight but Forest had different plans for him as he was able to submit him with a rear naked choke. Shogun appeared to gas very quickly in the fight and was unable to keep pace with the gym rat Griffin.

Preparing for UFC 85, Shogun had suffered a ruptured ACL during training which has kept him out of action for a full year. Shogun returned to the octagon in UFC 93 and had his revenge over Mark Coleman who had defeated him in PRIDE 31 because he had a elbow dislocation during a takedown by Coleman. Shogun won by TKO with uppercuts and strikes near the end of the third round. However, even with the win Shogun had appeared very tired and 'gassed' like he did against Forest Griffin. The stoppage by the referee was very questionable and his match was against a fighter who is very much past his prime.

One major transition that Shogun had to adapt to in the UFC was the use of soccer kicks and head stomps. In many of his fights in PRIDE, Rua had made great usage of these two techniques. However, in the UFC, you are not allowed to use knees and kicks to the a downed opponent, these are North America's MMA rules. Which could possibly explain his decline in the UFC.

Shogun's next fight is against Chuck Liddell in UFC 97 on April 19th. This fight is a must win for Shogun to be able to gain his reputation back as is for Liddell to return to the top. If Shogun does not increase his cardio and demonstrate his abilities like he did in PRIDE, Shogun will become what many mma fighters turn out to be, a mirage.