Fighter Profile: Mauricio "Shogun" Rua

Overall Record: 19-5

UFC Record: 3-3

Hometown: Curitiba, Brazil

Height: 6’1”

Born: 11-25-1981

Mauricio “Shogun” Rua is a Brazilian black belt in jiu-jitsu that currently competes in the UFC. Before competing exclusively in MMA, Rua competed in jiu-jitsu and muay-thai competitions. Rua is a former member of Chute Boxe Academy, the famed training center located in Brazil. He left the academy to start a new camp with his older brother Murilo “Ninja” Rua.

Shogun began his MMA career in the Meca and IFC organizations. He would dominate the two organizations, going 4-1 to earn a spot on the Japanese based Pride FC roster. He then quickly ran through the competition in Pride by winning his first 8 fights.

His only loss in Pride FC came when he broke his arm in a fight against Mark Coleman at Pride 31. He recovered from his loss to Coleman to win four more Pride fights in a row. While fighting for Pride FC he defeated fighters such as Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Ricardo Arona, and Akihiro Gono among others.

When the Pride FC organization was bought out by the UFC in 2007, only some of the fighters were invited to join them in the octagon. Shogun did join the UFC and earned a debut match with Forrest Griffin at UFC 76. Shogun was submitted by the heavy underdog late in the third round.

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After his loss to Griffin, Rua took some time off of fighting to heal some nagging injuries. He was idol from September of 2007 until January of 2009 at UFC 93. At UFC 93, Rua got redemption from one of his previous losses with a 3rd round TKO win over Mark Coleman.

Rua still has not shown the skills he demonstrated early in his career to the fans of the UFC. He will get his next chance to prove his worth at UFC 97. On April 18, 2009 he got a chance to take on one of the UFC’s biggest stars when he faced “The Iceman”, Chuck Liddell. Shogun scored his signature UFC KO by defeating Liddell late in the 1st round and earned his title shot as he will face Lyoto Machida at UFC 104 on October 24, 2009 for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship.

Recent Shogun Rua MMA News:

• Lost to Lyoto Machida by Unanimous Decision at UFC 104 on October 24, 2009 - UFC 104 results

• Defeated Lyoto Machida by TKO at UFC 113 on May 8, 2010 in Montreal to become the UFC Light Heavyweight Champion - UFC 113 results

• Lost to Jon Jones by TKO at UFC 128 on March 19, 2011 - UFC 128 results

By Nick Russell
ProFighting-fans.com Staff Writer
Updated March 2011

Photo courtesy of UFC