Maurício Rua
Rua signing autograph in 2006
Born	(1981-11-25) November 25, 1981 (age 31) Curitiba, Brazil
Other names	Shogun
Nationality	Brazilian
Height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)[1]
Weight	205 lb (93 kg; 14 st 9 lb)
Division	Light Heavyweight
Reach	76 in (193 cm)
Stance	Orthodox
Fighting out of	Curitiba, Brazil
Team	Chute Boxe (2002–2008) Universidade da luta (2008–present)[2]
Trainer	Rafael Cordeiro, Andre Amade
Rank	Black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Antonio Schembri
Years active	2002 – present (MMA)
Mixed martial arts record
Total	28
Wins	21
By knockout	18
By submission	1
By decision	2
Losses	7
By knockout	2
By submission	2
By decision	3
Notable relatives	Murilo Rua (brother)
Website	http://www.mauricioshogun.com.br/
Mixed martial arts record from Sherdog
last updated on: November 23, 2011

Maurício Milani "Shogun" Rua (Portuguese pronunciation: [mawˈɾisiu ˈʁuɐ]; born November 25, 1981) is a Brazilian mixed martial artist who currently fights for the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He is a former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion and 2005 Pride Middleweight Grand Prix Champion. As of January 2013, Rua is currently ranked as the #7 light heavyweight in the world by Sherdog.^[3]

Early life

Rua was born and raised in Curitiba, Brazil. His father is a successful businessman who runs his own business, and his mother was a track athlete and is currently a marathon runner. The Rua brothers occasionally run 10 km runs with their mother as well.^[4] Shogun has an older brother, Murilo (born 1980), and a younger brother, Marcos "Shaolin" Rua.^[4] Both are mixed martial artists training at Universidade da luta, though Marcos does not compete at a professional level.

Rua began training in Muay Thai at the age of 15, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu at 17.^[5] In contrast, Pride announcer Mauro Ranallo once claimed that Shogun began training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) at the age of six and Muay Thai at seven, and achieved a record of 10-0 in Muay Thai competition.^[6] He was very successful in BJJ championships at the Blue and Purple belt level. Rua followed his older brother's footsteps after Murilo started training at the Chute Boxe Academy. In addition to Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, he also currently trains in wrestling and western boxing.^[7][8]

Mixed martial arts career

Rua started his professional career at vale tudo events in Brazil, achieving three stoppages due to strikes, including a win over future Chute Boxe teammate Evangelista Santos. In a fast-paced bout, Santos matched Rua on the feet until Rua took Santos to the ground and forced a stoppage due to strikes from mount. Shogun then entered the International Fighting Championship's (IFC) "Global Domination" tournament. Rua won his first bout against Erik Wanderlei due to punches, and in the second bout got the first submission loss of his career against Renato Sobral with a guillotine choke in the third round.

Pride Fighting Championship

Following his victory in the IFC tournament, Shogun made his way to Japan to enter the Pride Fighting Championship. He made his Pride debut at the inaugural Pride Bushido 1, a side promotion for lighter weight fighters. In his three Bushido appearances, Rua defeated Akira Shoji, Akihiro Gono, and Yasuhito Namekawa all by strikes in the first round. With his success, Rua graduated to his debut in a main Pride event at Pride 29, where he faced former professional wrestler Hiromitsu Kanehara. Rua defeated Kanehara by stomps and soccer kicks early in the first round.

Rua's success and similar background led to comparisons with his Chute Boxe teammate and Pride Middleweight Champion Wanderlei Silva. However, when he entered the PRIDE 2005 Middleweight Grand Prix tournament, he entered as a heavy underdog. For the first round of the tounament at Pride Total Elimination 2005, he faced Quinton Jackson, whom he had challenged after Jackson won a controversial split decision over his brother, Murilo at PRIDE 29. Jackson had been the runner-up in the Pride 2003 Middleweight Grand Prix, but Maurício dominated the favored fighter from beginning to end, breaking Jackson's ribs with knee strikes and ending the fight in dramatic fashion with soccer kicks to the face in the first round. Jackson later stated that Shogun was the best fighter he had ever fought.^[9] In the second round at Pride Critical Countdown 2005, Rua faced Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, a member of Chute Boxe's rival academy Brazilian Top Team. Rua defeated Nogueira by unanimous decision. On August 28, 2005, Rua participated in Pride Final Conflict 2005, in which the last two rounds of the tournament were held on the same night. Rua defeated Alistair Overeem by TKO in the first round, while Ricardo Arona defeated Rua's teammate Wanderlei Silva by decision. Rua and Arona faced each other in the final bout of the tournament. At 2:54 in the first round, Rua knocked Arona out with punches to win the bout and become the 2005 Middleweight Grand Prix winner. He received a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu from Nino Schembri afterwards. This wrapped up a year in which he won Fighter of the Year honors from Sherdog.com. In the very next fight after his Grand Prix win, Shogun faced heavyweight wrestler and Pride Grand Prix 2000 winner Mark Coleman at Pride 31. As Coleman executed a takedown, Rua landed awkwardly and dislocated his elbow, forcing a stoppage due to injury. At Pride Final Conflict Absolute he defeated French kickboxer Cyrille Diabate by tapout due to stomps. At Pride 32 he submitted former UFC Heavyweight Champion Kevin Randleman with a kneebar at 2:35 of the first round. In his final Pride appearance at Pride 33, he fought a rematch with Alistair Overeem and knocked the Dutchman out at 3:37 of the first round.

By the end of his run at Pride, Rua was ranked as the top light heavyweight in the world by Nokaut,^[10] Sherdog,^[11] and MMAWeekly.com.^[12]

Ultimate Fighting Championship

After the UFC bought out Pride, Shogun signed on with the UFC and made his highly anticipated debut in the organization at UFC 76. Facing The Ultimate Fighter 1 winner Forrest Griffin, Rua was widely regarded as the top light heavyweight fighter in the world and considered a heavy favorite to win.^[13] However, Rua had difficulty with Griffin and became exhausted early on and was dominated for the remainder of the fight. After losing both of the previous rounds, Rua ultimately succumbed to a rear naked choke in the final seconds of the third round. Shogun who had injured his knee a month before the fight hadn't been able to properly train and further damaged it during the bout, had surgery afterwards while Griffin would soon have minor shoulder surgery to repair a nagging injury.^[14][15] Rua left Chute Boxe in January 2008 and opened his own camp, Universidade da luta, with his brother Murilo in his hometown, Curitiba, Brazil.^[16]

In the months following his surgery Rua completely reruptured damaged ligaments during training and was forced to undergo a second knee surgery. This forced him to drop out of UFC 85. Instead, he was granted a rematch with Mark Coleman at UFC 93 in Dublin, Ireland. Shogun defeated Coleman by TKO with 24 seconds left in the third round after both fighters were visibly exhausted. The fight earned co-Fight of the Night honors and a $40,000 bonus. In spite of the award, Rua drew criticism from fans, for his lackluster performance against Coleman, who was 44 years old at the time and had not competed in over two years.^[17][18] Rua's next fight took place at UFC 97 in Montreal, Canada against former longtime UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Chuck Liddell. Shogun went on to defeat Chuck by KO due to strikes. With this victory, Rua returned to the top-ten rankings for the light heavyweight division, and the UFC decided to put him next in line for a shot at the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship, which many fans complained about due to his last two previous performances and the fact that he only held one victory over a top-ten light heavyweight fighter.

Fighting for the UFC Light Heavyweight title

At UFC 104 Shogun lost a unanimous decision to UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida. All three judges scored the bout 48–47 in favor of Machida. The majority of MMA fans and media as well as UFC President Dana White had scored the fight in Shogun's favor. A rematch seemed only appropriate due to the arguable decision.

UFC Light Heavyweight Champion

Due to the controversy of the decision, of his UFC 104 loss to Machida, a rematch was immediately announced and took place at UFC 113 on May 8, 2010 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Rua won via knockout at 3:35 of round 1, after dropping Machida with a right and following up with punches on the ground, and was awarded the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship becoming the second fighter in MMA History to win a Pride Grand Prix championship and a UFC title. Following the victory, Rua underwent surgery in June to repair a knee injured during the bout against Machida. Then, it was later revealed that Machida had entered their re-match with an injury to his left hand.

After roughly 2 months after winning the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship, UFC President: Dana White, would officially confirm that Rua's first title defense would be on March 19, 2011 against Rashad Evans, who had recently won a unanimous decision over Quinton Jackson at UFC 114 on May 29, 2010.

However, following Jon Jones' victory over Ryan Bader at UFC 126, it was announced that Evans had blown his knee out in training and would not be able to face Rua. Jones was told during his post-fight interview that the UFC wanted him to replace Evans against Rua for the Light Heavyweight Championship. Jones accepted and the fight which took place at UFC 128.^[19] Rua later disclosed that Quinton Jackson was offered the title fight but declined, which Jackson confirmed, explaining the reasons he declined was due to the short notice; six weeks and because he would not be able to make weight.^[20]

Rua lost the belt during his first title defense to Jon Jones. Jones was able to overwhelm Rua from start to finish beginning with a flying right knee to the head of Rua mere seconds into the first round. Rua would later attribute that the single first knee that Jones landed mere seconds into the fight to greatly affecting his performance for the rest of the bout.^[21] Jones kept the pressure on Rua throughout the rest of the fight, utilizing unorthodox striking and ground-and-pound to defeat Shogun in the third round.

Post title

After Rua's loss against Jones, Rua's rematch with Forrest Griffin took place on August 27, 2011 at UFC 134. In a match that looked like the complete opposite of their original bout, Shogun demonstrated good head movement and footwork, as well as good accuracy and striking power, to win the bout via KO early in the first round. Rua has now avenged 3 of his 6 losses.^[22]

Rua faced Dan Henderson on November 19, 2011 at UFC 139, losing via unanimous decision. Henderson was clearly in control for the first three rounds, dropping Rua in the third and nearly finishing him. By the fourth round, the tide began to shift towards Rua, who was able to mount Henderson in the later fourth and fifth rounds. Rua, however, was also exhausted, and was unable to land meaningful or damaging strikes to Henderson from this position. This fight was widely viewed as the "Fight of the Year" for 2011.

Rua was expected to face Thiago Silva on July 21, 2012 at UFC 149.^[23] However, Silva was forced out of the bout with an injury.^[24]

Rua faced Brandon Vera on August 4, 2012 at UFC on Fox: Shogun vs. Vera.^[25] In a back-and-forth affair, Shogun managed to drop Vera several times in a tough fight but was able to defeat Vera via TKO due to punches in the 4th round.

Rua faced Alexander Gustafsson on December 8, 2012 at UFC on Fox 5 and lost the fight by unanimous decision.

Rua is expected to face Antônio Rogério Nogueira in a rematch on June 15, 2013 at UFC 161.^[26]

Personal life

On September 12, 2007, Rua married physiotherapist Renata Ribeiro.^[27] The couple had their first child, a daughter named Maria Eduarda, on January 15, 2010.^[28]

Before becoming a fighter Rua worked as a model in Brazil, doing books, pictures, and even fashion shows for brands.^[29] He later stated in English, "The first work is fight, and the second is model."^[29] Due to his relationship with Wanderlei Silva and of course with his own brother, Rua has stated that those are the only two people that he would never fight^[30] Maurício is of Italian and Portuguese descent.

Championships and achievements

• Pride Fighting Championships
  • 2005 Pride Middleweight Grand Prix Champion

• Ultimate Fighting Championship
  • UFC Light Heavyweight Championship (One time)
  • Knockout of the Night (Two times)
  • Fight of the Night (Two times)
  • Only man in UFC history to defeat two UFC Hall of Fame inductees in consecutive bouts

• World MMA Awards
  • 2010 Knockout of the Year vs. Lyoto Machida on May 8 ^[31]
  • 2011 Fight of the Year vs. Dan Henderson on November 19

• Sherdog
  • 2005 Fighter of the Year^[32]
  • 2005 Fight of the Year vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira on June 26^[32]
  • 2009 Comeback Fighter of the Year^[33]

• Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards
  • 2011 Fight of the Year vs. Dan Henderson on November 19^[34]

Mixed martial arts record

Res.	Record	Opponent	Method	Event	Date	Round	Time	Location	Notes
Loss	21–7	Alexander Gustafsson	Decision (unanimous)	UFC on Fox: Henderson vs. Diaz	02012-12-08December 8, 2012	3	5:00	Seattle, Washington, United States
Win	21–6	Brandon Vera	TKO (punches)	UFC on Fox: Shogun vs. Vera	02012-08-04August 4, 2012	4	4:09	Los Angeles, California, United States
Loss	20–6	Dan Henderson	Decision (unanimous)	UFC 139	02011-11-19November 19, 2011	5	5:00	San Jose, California, United States	Fight of the Night. 2011 Fight of the Year.
Win	20–5	Forrest Griffin	KO (punches)	UFC 134	02011-08-27August 27, 2011	1	1:53	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Loss	19–5	Jon Jones	TKO (punches & knees)	UFC 128	02011-03-19March 19, 2011	3	2:37	Newark, New Jersey, United States	Lost UFC Light Heavyweight Championship.
Win	19–4	Lyoto Machida	KO (punches)	UFC 113	02010-05-08May 8, 2010	1	3:35	Montreal, Quebec, Canada	Won UFC Light Heavyweight Championship; Knockout of the Night; 2010 KO of the Year.
Loss	18–4	Lyoto Machida	Decision (unanimous)	UFC 104	02009-10-24October 24, 2009	5	5:00	Los Angeles, California, United States	For the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship.
Win	18–3	Chuck Liddell	TKO (punches)	UFC 97	02009-04-18April 18, 2009	1	4:28	Montreal, Quebec, Canada	Knockout of the Night.
Win	17–3	Mark Coleman	TKO (punches)	UFC 93	02009-01-17January 17, 2009	3	4:36	Dublin, Ireland	Fight of the Night.
Loss	16–3	Forrest Griffin	Submission (rear naked choke)	UFC 76	02007-09-22September 22, 2007	3	4:45	Anaheim, California, United States
Win	16–2	Alistair Overeem	KO (punches)	Pride 33	02007-02-24February 24, 2007	1	3:37	Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Win	15–2	Kazuhiro Nakamura	Decision (unanimous)	Pride Shockwave 2006	02006-12-31December 31, 2006	3	5:00	Saitama, Saitama, Japan
Win	14–2	Kevin Randleman	Submission (kneebar)	Pride 32	02006-10-21October 21, 2006	1	2:35	Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Win	13–2	Cyrille Diabaté	KO (stomps)	Pride Final Conflict Absolute	02006-09-10September 10, 2006	1	5:29	Saitama, Saitama, Japan
Loss	12-2	Mark Coleman	TKO (broken arm)	Pride 31	02006-02-26February 26, 2006	1	0:49	Saitama, Saitama, Japan
Win	12–1	Ricardo Arona	KO (punches)	Pride Final Conflict 2005	02005-08-28August 28, 2005	1	2:54	Saitama, Saitama, Japan	2005 Pride Middleweight GP Champion.
Win	11–1	Alistair Overeem	TKO (punches)	Pride Final Conflict 2005	02005-08-28August 28, 2005	1	6:42	Saitama, Saitama, Japan	2005 Pride Middleweight GP Semifinal.
Win	10–1	Antônio Rogério Nogueira	Decision (unanimous)	Pride Critical Countdown 2005	02005-06-26June 26, 2005	3	5:00	Saitama, Saitama, Japan	2005 Pride Middleweight GP Quarterfinal; 2005 Fight of the Year.
Win	9–1	Quinton Jackson	TKO (soccer kicks)	Pride Total Elimination 2005	02005-04-23April 23, 2005	1	4:47	Osaka, Japan	2005 Pride Middleweight GP Opening Round.
Win	8–1	Hiromitsu Kanehara	KO (soccer kick)	Pride 29	02005-02-20February 20, 2005	1	1:40	Saitama, Saitama, Japan
Win	7–1	Yasuhito Namekawa	KO (punch and soccer kicks)	Pride Bushido 5	02004-10-14October 14, 2004	1	6:02	Osaka, Japan
Win	6–1	Akihiro Gono	KO (soccer kick)	Pride Bushido 2	02004-02-15February 15, 2004	1	9:04	Kanagawa, Japan
Win	5–1	Akira Shoji	KO (punches & stomp)	Pride Bushido 1	02003-10-05October 5, 2003	1	3:47	Saitama, Saitama, Japan
Loss	4–1	Renato Sobral	Submission (guillotine choke)	IFC: Global Domination	02003-09-06September 6, 2003	3	3:07	Denver, Colorado, United States
Win	4–0	Erik Wanderlei	KO (punches)	IFC: Global Domination	02003-09-06September 6, 2003	2	2:54	Denver, Colorado, United States
Win	3–0	Evangelista Santos	KO (punches)	Meca World Vale Tudo 9	02003-08-01August 1, 2003	1	8:12	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Win	2–0	Angelo de Oliveira	KO (soccer kicks)	Meca World Vale Tudo 8	02003-05-16May 16, 2003	1	0:55	Curitiba, Brazil
Win	1–0	Rafael Freitas	KO (head kick)	Meca World Vale Tudo 7	02002-11-08November 8, 2002	1	4:00	Curitiba, Brazil

See also

• List of male mixed martial artists
• List of PRIDE champions
• List of UFC champions
• List of current mixed martial arts champions

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Mauricio Rua

External links

• Official website
• "UFC profile". UFC. 
• Professional MMA record for Maurício Rua from Sherdog
• Maurício Rua on Twitter