Top-10 UFC middleweight Tim Kennedy says that it would be a bad career move for former Pride and UFC light heavyweight champ Mauricio Rua to cut down to 185 pounds.
“Shogun,” who suffered the most one-sided loss of his career against Ovince St. Preux at UFC Fight Night 56, hinted that a cut to middleweight may be his next move in a Facebook post from Monday morning.
Kennedy disagrees, based on this tweet from Monday afternoon saying that would not be a prudent decision.
Somebody tell Shogun that it is a VERY bad idea to move down to 185. It is a total shark tank down here and we will all eat him up.
— Tim Kennedy (@TimKennedyMMA) November 10, 2014
Rua, one of the most popular knockout artists from the Pride era, has lost four of his past five fights and is just 6-8 inside the Octagon since September 2007.
A career light heavyweight through 32 professional fights, Rua has always been undersized for 205 pounds but has also been slow on the draw and has seen his chin deteriorate in recent years.
Kennedy, the No. 7 middleweight in the UFC’s official rankings, is 4-1 in his past five bouts, losing his most recent contest against Yoel Romero in controversial fashion at UFC 178 in September.
The Greg Jackson’s MMA standout does not have his next fight booked yet, so in the event Rua did decide to test the middleweight waters, Kennedy would be a realistic option to welcome him to the division.
Of course, many pundits believe that Rua‘s opportunity to revitalize his career in a new weight class was over a long time ago and that retirement has been calling his name for ages now.
Still, in the event that Rua does cut an additional 15 pounds for his next scrap inside the Octagon, would a showdown with Kennedy be worthwhile from a fan’s perspective?
John Heinis is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA editor for eDraft.com.
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