UFC light-heavyweight champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua (19-4) isn’t sure he’ll face-off against “Suga” Rashad Evans when he returns to the octagon.
Rua has been recovering from knee surgery and is not expected back until early Spring.
“Shogun” had the surgery after UFC 113 when he defeated fellow Brazilian Lyoto Machida for the UFC title. The bout was a rematch of their controversial fight in October of last year at UFC 104. The judges score left many questioning the judges decision they awarded Machida a unanimous decision victory.
The original interview was conducted by Tatame.com.
Can you have contact trainings?
Rua: I’m doing Muay Thai and Jiu-Jitsu trainings… I just can’t have much contact like MMA and Wrestling, because they demand a lot out of my joints… I’m doing the boxing part, ground game trainings… I’m dealing with the technical part now.There’re nothing officially announced, but everything makes us believe that Rashad will be the next challenger. What do you think of him?
Rua: Rashad is a great fighter, has a good boxing and Wrestling. On my weight class there’re only tough guys, so it’ll be like any other… I really don’t know if it’ll be him and I don’t know the date, but I believe it’ll be against him.He did good fights standing, like when he knocked Liddell out, but lately he’s been using more the strategy and his Wrestling. Do you think he’ll try to take you down too?
Rua: Yeah, I believe he’ll try to fight standing a bit and then go to the ground. But every fight is different… Maybe he will try the knockout and I have to be prepared for it.