Former UFC light heavyweight champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua may no longer be considered the top 205-pound fighter in the world, but that doesn’t mean he’s ready to give up the dream of getting back there.
However, after upsetting UFC President Dana White by turning down a fight with UFC newcomer Glover Teixeira, Shogun might be looking at a longer climb up the ladder.
According to White, the former champion told him that he would prefer to be cut rather than fight Teixeira. Shogun had a different recollection of the conversation.
“They asked me to fight Glover, my manager told me and then I talked to my team and we decided not to fight Glover because he’s a top guy but, but he’s building a career in the UFC,” Teixeira told TATAME.com. “He fought once and it was on an undercard, so it’s not fair. I made it clear that it wasn’t interesting for us now.”
Though Rua admits that he did not want the bout with Teixeira, he also denied White’s claim that he told the UFC that he would rather be cut from the company than take the fight.
“Dana White commented I rather leave UFC than fighting him but it was not true. UFC never thought about it neither did I,” he said. “[The conversation about preferring to be cut] never happened.”
Rua will instead fight Brandon Vera in the main event of the next UFC on FOX fight card from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA on August 4, 2012.
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