Don’t talk about Chael Sonnen.
Mauricio Rua suffered a stunning first-round loss to “The American Gangster” at UFC Fight Night 26 last August, but he leaves it in the past as he prepares to return to the Octagon on Dec. 7 against James Te Huna at UFN 33 in Brisbane, Australia.
“A loss will always bother you, it’s in the past,” Shogun told MMAFighting.com. “If I think about this all the time going into this fight it could be frustrating to me. I don’t want to think about this anymore. It’s in the past, but a loss is a loss.”
Shogun left the city of Curitiba, where he lives and owns a MMA gym called Universidade da Luta, to train at Demian Maia’s gym in Sao Paulo. The former UFC light heavyweight champion has trained twice in Sao Paulo in the past, for his fights against Chuck Liddell and Dan Henderson, and promises to fight better this time.
“I’ve been training in Sao Paulo for over a month, and I’ll be training here for the rest of my camp,” he said. “My camp has been great at Demian Maia’s team.”
Te Huna has won four of his last five fights in the UFC, including first-round knockout victories over Ricardo Romero and Aaron Rosa, and Rua sees him as a better match-up for him then Sonnen.
“I expect a tough fight,” he said. “He’s a good fighter that likes to stand and bang. It will be a great fight, for sure. He like to use his hands and I like to use my muay thai, so it will be cool.
“I don’t know if his style benefits me, but that’s a match-up that I like more (than wrestlers) because he goes there to fight.”
Shogun is 2-3 since he lost the light-heavyweight title to Jon Jones on March 2011, and he revealed the possibility to drop to the middleweight division during a Q&A with the fans in Goiania, Brazil.
It’s not set in stone yet, though.
“I haven’t spoken with my team yet,” he said. “If they believe it’s a good move, I’ll do it. It may be a tough decision and I need to think about this, but it’s a possibility that I won’t rule out. But it would be tough to cut to 185.”
Don’t talk about Chael Sonnen.
Mauricio Rua suffered a stunning first-round loss to “The American Gangster” at UFC Fight Night 26 last August, but he leaves it in the past as he prepares to return to the Octagon on Dec. 7 against James Te Huna at UFN 33 in Brisbane, Australia.
“A loss will always bother you, it’s in the past,” Shogun told MMAFighting.com. “If I think about this all the time going into this fight it could be frustrating to me. I don’t want to think about this anymore. It’s in the past, but a loss is a loss.”
Shogun left the city of Curitiba, where he lives and owns a MMA gym called Universidade da Luta, to train at Demian Maia’s gym in Sao Paulo. The former UFC light heavyweight champion has trained twice in Sao Paulo in the past, for his fights against Chuck Liddell and Dan Henderson, and promises to fight better this time.
“I’ve been training in Sao Paulo for over a month, and I’ll be training here for the rest of my camp,” he said. “My camp has been great at Demian Maia’s team.”
Te Huna has won four of his last five fights in the UFC, including first-round knockout victories over Ricardo Romero and Aaron Rosa, and Rua sees him as a better match-up for him then Sonnen.
“I expect a tough fight,” he said. “He’s a good fighter that likes to stand and bang. It will be a great fight, for sure. He like to use his hands and I like to use my muay thai, so it will be cool.
“I don’t know if his style benefits me, but that’s a match-up that I like more (than wrestlers) because he goes there to fight.”
Shogun is 2-3 since he lost the light-heavyweight title to Jon Jones on March 2011, and he revealed the possibility to drop to the middleweight division during a Q&A with the fans in Goiania, Brazil.
It’s not set in stone yet, though.
“I haven’t spoken with my team yet,” he said. “If they believe it’s a good move, I’ll do it. It may be a tough decision and I need to think about this, but it’s a possibility that I won’t rule out. But it would be tough to cut to 185.”