Mauricio Rua will have both the home crowd advantage and the motivational edge when he steps into the Octagon to take on Forrest Griffin at UFC 134 in Rio di Janeiro on Saturday.
“Shogun” will once again be favored to take down the feisty American when the face off in Rua’s native Brazil, though Rua will certainly be hoping for a better result this time around. These two last came to blows at UFC 76 in September of 2007 in a bout that still stands as one of the great upsets in the young history of mixed martial arts.
At the time, Rua had just recently joined the UFC from Pride while Griffin was little more than a fresh face who had the good fortune of winning season one of “The Ultimate Fighter.” What resulted was nothing short of shocking, as Griffin wore down Rua with his energy before forcing the big Brazilian into submission by way of a rear naked choke in the third round.
Rua’s tenure in the UFC has been up and down since then, with wins over Mark Coleman, Chuck Liddell and Lyoto Machida stunted by defeats to Machida and Jon “Bones” Jones.
Rua held the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship belt after snagging it from Machida on his second try at UFC 113 in May of 2010, only to lose it to Jones in a one-sided beat-down at UFC 128 this past March.
Now, “Shogun” will look to regroup and gear up for another run at the Light Heavyweight title, with revenge against Griffin first on the docket. If Rua can keep the fight vertical and strike-friendly, he should have no problem dispatching of Griffin, who relies on grit and determination rather than technique to succeed.
And if that doesn’t work, Rua can always draw on the support of his countrymen and the sting of his past failures to ensure that he, and not Forrest, will be the next one running to reclaim the divisional belt.