Pride Never Die! Shogun is a legend and is my all time favorite fighter and it’s been a privilege to watch him fight!
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Mauricio “Shogun” Rua is on the cusp of retirement.
UFC 283 on Jan. 21, 2023, marks the promotion’s return to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where several of the sport’s top fighters from the country will throw down. Amongst them is the legendary Shogun who will make the walk one final time.
“It’s definitely my last fight,” Shogun told Combate (h/t MMA Junkie). “And I don’t put pressure on me anymore. My obligation is to give my best, and that’s what I think about.”
Shogun looks to snap a two-fight skid heading into his bout against Ihor Potieria. The former UFC and PRIDE FC Light Heavyweight champion last won in July 2020, earning a split decision against Antonio Rogerio Nogueira in their trilogy clash.
Mixed martial arts (MMA) fans couldn’t watch the sport without knowledge of Shogun’s presence in the mid to late 2000s. He became one of the most feared competitors on the planet over in Japan, fighting for PRIDE before coming stateside and capturing UFC gold in his infamous series with Lyoto Machida.
“I’m happy with this fight (versus Potieria) — it will be my farewell bout, and I’m happy it’s in my country, at home,” Shogun said. “I’m happy. I’m grateful to the UFC for being one of the pioneers in the UFC. I’m there for 15 years — there’s no one else for that long in the UFC. I’m grateful for everything.
“I’ve been fighting for 20 years, started really early, and have been fighting for many years at the highest level — since 2005 against the best,” he concluded. “So I’m a fulfilled man and grateful to God for everything I’ve accomplished in my career. Being that way, that makes me stop at the right time.”
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Shogun has never been in a boring fight. He needs to be in the hall of fame after his fight.
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I’d it’s last fight. Make it winnable. I’d love to see shogun go out on top.
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Should be
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No one likes to see their sports heroes age out. There’s a large swath of basketball fans who insist the last time they saw Michael Jordan don a basketball jersey was when he scored the winning jumper over Bryon Russell in 1998 to secure the Chicago Bulls their sixth title in eight years. Jordan’s years with the Washington Wizards doesn’t exist in their minds.
There is no sport more cruel to the heroes of yesteryear than MMA. Whereas Jordan would get crossed up by a younger player whom he would have schooled in his peak. He also gets a chance to answer back with a bucket in the very next play. In MMA, legends are getting KO’d and badly hurt when Father Time begins to catch up with them. Thus, MMA fans have learned hard lessons over the years, rarely celebrating a legend’s swan song as happy endings are a rarity.
UFC 283 marks the final chapter in the long and illustrious career of Mauricio Rua, better known as Shogun Rua. The UFC recognizes his decline as well as they are keeping him off the main card, allowing fans unable to fork up $80 for the main card to watch him one last time. Personally, Shogun’s last fight isn’t the reason to tune in to the prelims. Gregory Rodrigues has been a consistent violence machine and Gabriel Bonfim is one of the most hyped prospects to join the organization in the last little while. In other words, there’s reason to tune in if you don’t like the typical MMA ending to a career.
- For many, the last time they saw what they consider to be peak Shogun Rua was in 2007… 16 years ago when he beat Alistair Overeem. Shogun has remained an active fighter since that time, even winning the UFC Light Heavyweight title in 2010. In other words, the version of Shogun who won the UFC title isn’t considered prime Shogun. Injuries sapped Shogun of what made him so special and what we currently have is an aged legend who should have hung things up years ago. Now, he doesn’t have the explosion and power he used to. In fact, those factors have diminished so much that he doesn’t appear capable any longer of making up for that with the veteran savvy that only comes with years of experience. It isn’t so easy as to tell him to just retire either. Fighting is all he’s known for the entirety of his adult life and this is how he has made his living. The UFC is doing everything in their power to send off the legend on a good note by pitting him with Ihor Potieria. Potieria is a decent prospect at 205, but not one that looks like a future contender by any means. Regardless, he’s aggressive with his attack, throwing a swarm of punches and looking for takedowns. Given Shogun couldn’t stop the takedowns from Paul Craig, it isn’t hard to believe Potieria will put Shogun on his back. In other words, it’s plausible Shogun is so shot that he can’t score a win over Potieria. We occasionally get happy endings in MMA. That’s a rare occurrence. I’m not discounting a Shogun victory entirely, but history has never been kind to those at or near the end of their road in combat sports. Potieria via TKO of RD2
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He is physically incapable of getting into good shape. I saw him today and was shocked, he looks bad. The head trauma is written all over his head and face.
God’s I hope he wins Saturday! One last time… War Shogun!
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Mauricio “Shogun” Rua has known for some time that the end of his career was approaching.
With 41 professional fights and nearly 21 years in the sport, the legendary Brazilian had been plotting this move, especially as he continued putting more and more miles on his body both inside the cage and during the countless hours spent in the gym. It all added up to tell “Shogun” the time was now — and that’s why he’s planned for his retirement after his upcoming bout against Ihor Poteiria at UFC 285.
“I have been suffering and dealing with some little pains from the injuries I have and those things, it really becomes a burden to be in training camp and live that life,” Rua revealed Wednesday on The MMA Hour. “Training camp, fight, training camp, fight. It’s not something I feel like my body holds up anymore and it becomes painful.
“I’m happy with everything I achieved, so I’m choosing the right time to stop, where I’m still competing and I’m doing it on my terms.”
Rua accomplished a lot during his career, including an iconic run in Pride Fighting Championships where he was the 2005 middleweight grand prix winner with memorable victories over names such as Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Alistair Overeem, and Ricardo Arona.
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His run with Pride came to an end after the UFC purchased the promotion in 2007.
Many of the fighters on the Pride roster eventually joined the UFC alongside him, however “Shogun” is actually the last man standing out of the group — the last Pride veteran still competing inside the octagon. While he’s got a laundry list of accomplishments already on his résumé, Rua admits that is one accolade that really does mean a lot to him.
“For me, I’m very proud of it,” Rua said. “It’s a big reason to be proud and a sense of accomplishment to be the last of those guys to still be competing [in the UFC].
“Even the UFC itself, I’ve been 16 years in the UFC pretty much and it really makes me proud and makes me feel blessed by God that I was able to have this long and successful career.”
Knowing that Saturday will be the last time he’ll make the walk to the cage and compete, “Shogun” said there are some unavoidable nerves, but he’s also filled with excitement.
“I’m anxious for the fight,” Rua explained. “I’m anxious about this fight, but at the same time, I feel fulfilled. I feel like I achieved everything I wanted in my career so I’m happy.
“It’s not a feeling of being blue. I’m happy because I’m retiring on my terms and I’m happy with everything I accomplished in my career. I’m just anxious with the fight, I want to get the fight as best as I can.”
When he made his professional debut in 2002, there was no guarantee that he would ever become a champion, much less a legend of the sport, so “Shogun” can’t help but marvel at everything he’s been able to accomplish.
His highlight reel stands up against anyone who’s ever competed in MMA, and Rua displayed the kind of career longevity most fighters will only dream about.
According to Rua, he never planned on any of that — he was just a kid who loved to fight.
“I would never believe it,” Rua said. “I would never think I would be able to have such a long career, let alone to conquer and to achieve everything that I conquered, that I achieved. I only started for love, for fun, because I liked it. So I never dreamed that I would have such a career.”
As far as what’s next, Rua anticipates some rest and relaxation, but he won’t stay away from the gym for too long. That said, it doesn’t appear he’ll miss the arduous and exhausting training camps that accompanied his fights.
More than anything, “Shogun” is just ready to move onto the next phase of his life, and that will almost certainly made it easier to call it a career after UFC 285 is finished.
“I’m going to train for fun, for health,” Rua said. “Just to be healthy, to have fun without all the pressure and I’m going to focus on my family, raising my daughters, taking care of my family and of my enterprises.
“I already have some enterprises so I’ll dedicate myself more to them and to my family and train just for fun to be in shape and to be healthy.”
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RIO DE JANEIRO – Ihor Potieria knows he’s fighting someone that’s in the MMA history books.
The UFC rookie is taking on one of the most respected and legendary names still active in MMA – Mauricio Rua. Potieria (18-3 MMA, 0-1 UFC) is scheduled to take on ‘Shogun’ (27-13-1 MMA, 11-11-1 UFC) in the final preliminary bout of UFC 283 on Saturday night in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It’s Rua’s retirement fight from MMA.
Potieria admitted at Wednesday’s media day that he was in disbelief when he got the call to fight a living legend, it took him a while to process the idea.
“I was actually sleeping and my manager Ali Abdelaziz called me and said, ‘You’re fighting ‘Shogun,”” Potieria said recalling the moment he found out he was fighting the Brazilian. “I was kind of sleeping still and said, ‘Wait, who is that?,’ and then once I came to it, I realized, ‘No way God gave me such a chance to fight such a legend.'”
Potieria, 26, has been watching Rua fight since he was a young teenager. He’s very grateful to get the opportunity to share the cage with a former UFC champion and Pride FC star. He once joked about potentially fighting ‘Shogun’ when he was young and he think it’s crazy that came to fruition.
“I was 16 years old when I started training and maybe after like a month of training, I saw a video on YouTube that said, ‘The most dangerous fighter in the world,’ and it said ‘Shogun’ Rua,” Potieria said. “I was messing with my boys and I said maybe one day I’ll fight him. And they were like, ‘Yeah, right. You’ve been training for four months. Slow down.’
“But eventually, with the right training and if you keep going, you create these opportunities for yourself. With God’s help and with the right energy, it is me now who has to fight him on Saturday, and I’m very happy for this chance.”
Worth a Brazillion Dollars