Shogun Rua Releases Statement Contemplating Move To Middleweight

After an amazing night of finishes at last Friday’s UFC Fight Night 55 from Sydney, Australia, the MMA world may have witnessed the unfortunate end of an era when it only took a mere 34 seconds for Ovince St. Preux to finish former UFC light heavyweight champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua in the main event of Saturday night’s UFC Fight Night 56 from Uberlandia, Brazil.

The shockingly quick finish sent Shogun to losses in seven out of his past 11 UFC bouts, a far cry from the championship-level performances we’d grown accustomed to seeing from him. Not surprisingly, a chorus of MMA fans and critics called out for Shogun’s retirement from the sport while others cried for him to make an oft-discussed move down to middleweight.

About the only certainty in his unfortunate fall from grace is his unwavering fighting spirit, which could prove to be his worst enemy in this touchy situation. Rua spoke out on his Facebook page today, noting that it’s easy to be a fighter when you’re winning. He touched on a possible move down to middleweight, noting that a fighter’s true spirit is shown when the losses begin to add up:

I want to have my thanks registered here for all the support on my fight Saturday Night. I want to also thank you guys for all the showings of care and support after the fight.

Losing is always very bad, hurts a lot, but what’s hurting more is to lose without being able to show what I trained, and what I know. Fighting is fighting, and I know very well that in this weight class any punch that connects early on can cost a huge price. For many times in my career I was in the happy side and unfortunately this time I faced the sad side of this story. I know a lot of people will unload harsh words, some will make constructive criticism and others will take the chance to throw all sorts of jokes and offensive words as possible. Unfortunately this is all part of being in the spotlights, and it’s something that we as professional athletes, and mostly in Brazil, have to be always used to deal with.

As much as some will doubt it, I prepared myself a lot for this fight and was well trained, and this is what hurts the most about losing this way, without being able to show what I trained. Those who followed it, trained with me, or saw some of my training knows this. When you lose fighting some rounds, or even some minutes, in some ways it’s less of a suffering cause you were able to show what you got and what you prepared, and it wasn’t enough. But losing this way it’s certainly very frustrating.

I made a technical mistake, maybe due to anxiety and a big will to get this win in Brazil in such an important moment of my career, and I paid the price. Props to St. Preux, It’s part of the game and he deserved the win.

Now I will rest, enjoy my family and then think about my next steps, TUF Brazil, maybe a weight class change, but I’ll keep on going cause winning is easy, but keep on battling and overcome the obstacles is what makes a true fighter. Thank you all for the support.

Rua is a true legend of the sport; that much will never be on trial. But with losses mounting as he heads into his puzzling stint opposite Anderson Silva on The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) Brazil 4, it’s easy to see why so many fans simply want him to stop taking so much damage.

Injuries have already cut into his career, and the knockouts are beginning to pile up. He could enjoy some success with better conditioning and power at middleweight, but could he really hang with top-ranked fighters like Chris Weidman, Vitor Belfort, and Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza at this point in time? I’d have to say no.

Rua’s family hoped he would retire after his disappointing loss to Dan Henderson at March’s UFC Fight Night 38, and it’s hard to believe that their stance has softened since.

Do you agree with them? Should Shogun hang up the gloves once and for all, or would he benefit from going to a new, lighter weight class? At the end of the day, there’s not much more he has left to prove.