Tag: Mauricio Rua

Sonnen: ‘Little Chicken Belly Nog’ Pulled ‘Scumbag Move’ in Not Fighting Shogun

Saying that three-time UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen believes Antonio Rogerio Nogueira faked an injury prior to a scheduled UFC 161 bout with Mauricio Rua would be an understatement. In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, “The American Gang…

Saying that three-time UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen believes Antonio Rogerio Nogueira faked an injury prior to a scheduled UFC 161 bout with Mauricio Rua would be an understatement. 

In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, “The American Gangster” blasted his Brazilian adversary for withdrawing from a heavily anticipated rematch with “Shogun” roughly three weeks before the match up due to a back injury.

“Little Chicken Belly Nog pulled the same scumbag move that he does every time, lets the UFC put out posters, commercials, doing everything to promote him, knowing full well he’s not going to do the fight,” Sonnen said. “Once again he calls in sick, three weeks early. In no industry on earth can you do that. Nobody can call their boss and say ‘Hey, boss, 20 days from now, I’m not going to feel good’. So he calls in sick three weeks early… it was a ruse from the beginning, and basically, I just wanted to help out.”

Sonnen was willing to step up to the plate and fight Rua with less than two weeks notice, but instead, a showdown between Rua and Sonnen will headline UFC on FOX Sports 1: #1 this August (via MMA Fighting). 

“Little Nog‘s” recent career has been plagued with injuries, not fighting at all in 2012 and only stepping inside the Octagon once in 2013 thus far. 

Nevertheless, back-to-back wins over former divisional champions Tito Ortiz and Rashad Evans have earned Nogueira the number 5 spot in the UFC’s official light heavyweight rankings. 

While Rua is a former UFC titleholder in his own right, he is just 3-4 in his past seven fights, a far cry from his dominant 13-1 run under the PRIDE banner. 

Sonnen has lost consecutive fights to Anderson Silva and Jon Jones, fighting for the UFC middleweight and light heavyweight titles, respectively, though he has notched a 7-1 record in his last eight non-title bouts. 

Should Sonnen take out Shogun in Boston on August 17, would the fans be interested in seeing him settle the score with Nogueira in his next fight?

 

John Heinis is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA Editor for eDraft.com and contributes MMA videos to The Young Turks Sports Show.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

(Not) Coming to America: Massachusetts State Law Threatening to Derail ‘UFC on FOX Sports 1:1? [UPDATED]

Not to give any of you Massachusetts-based Taters a full-blown, Buster Bluth panic attack, but UFC on FOX Sports 1: Shogun vs. Sonnen is currently facing some legal issues that could throw a wrench into the plans of several foreign fighters hoping to compete on the Boston card in August, including headliner Mauricio “Shogun” Rua.

The Boston Herald first passed along word of a potential issue, which relates to temporary Social Security numbers that must be attained by foreign-born fighters before they are allowed to compete in Massachusetts:

“This law has been in existence since we legalized mixed martial arts in the commonwealth of Mass­achusetts,” said Terrell Harris, spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety, which regulates prize fighting.

“It’s been brought to the attention of the UFC more than a few times since we legalized the fighting here. But they’ve chosen basically to ignore the law and hope that they could skirt it somehow,” Harris said. 

When they bring in fighters that are not American citizens, there are exceptions that allow them to obtain a Social Security number,” Harris said.

“The Social Security Administration will issue a temporary work visa but it’s up to them to do their due diligence…the law is the law. The law doesn’t allow us to make exceptions.”

“Indeed it does not.” – Chad Johnson. “Occasionally it does.” – Lindsay Lohan

Not to give any of you Massachusetts-based Taters a full-blown, Buster Bluth panic attack, but UFC on FOX Sports 1: Shogun vs. Sonnen is currently facing some legal issues that could throw a wrench into the plans of several foreign fighters hoping to compete on the Boston card in August, including headliner Mauricio “Shogun” Rua.

The Boston Herald first passed along word of a potential issue, which relates to temporary Social Security numbers that must be attained by foreign-born fighters before they are allowed to compete in Massachusetts:

“This law has been in existence since we legalized mixed martial arts in the commonwealth of Mass­achusetts,” said Terrell Harris, spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety, which regulates prize fighting.

“It’s been brought to the attention of the UFC more than a few times since we legalized the fighting here. But they’ve chosen basically to ignore the law and hope that they could skirt it somehow,” Harris said. 

When they bring in fighters that are not American citizens, there are exceptions that allow them to obtain a Social Security number,” Harris said.

“The Social Security Administration will issue a temporary work visa but it’s up to them to do their due diligence…the law is the law. The law doesn’t allow us to make exceptions.”

“Indeed it does not.” – Chad Johnson. “Occasionally it does.” – Lindsay Lohan

The Herald article also states that applying for said SS numbers requires a ten day grace period, but thankfully…

[UPDATE]

Suckerpunch managing partner Shu Hirata has shed some light on the issue (via Hirata’s twitter):

Shu Hirata ?@ShuHirata
if u don’t live in US then u can no longer get ss #. Only tax ID # and u have to send in actual passport to IRS to get this.

Shu Hirata ?@ShuHirata 
fill out form W7 and send in with passport, then u can get tax ID # in like a month so for Boston UFC show still got time.

Shu Hirata ?@ShuHirata
I do tax filing for all my foreign clients so I am an expert in this topic :) But sending in passport makes everyone nervous.

According to other reports, the UFC is already in the process of addressing these legals snags. So crisis averted for now, we guess…

–J. Jones

The 10 Most Hyped Fighters to Ever Enter the UFC

In rare cases like that of gargantuan former heavyweight champ Brock Lesnar, the hype surrounding fighters who made their UFC debut was merited.For others, like Hector Lombard, extraordinary media attention only brings added pressure and unfamiliar hea…

In rare cases like that of gargantuan former heavyweight champ Brock Lesnar, the hype surrounding fighters who made their UFC debut was merited.

For others, like Hector Lombard, extraordinary media attention only brings added pressure and unfamiliar headaches, factors that often result in disappointing performances.

For better or for worse, though, MMA fans will usually peg flashy competitors as either blue-chip prospects, coveted transplants, or spectacles, in Lesnar‘s case.

The UFC has certainly facilitated its share of tantalizing debuts. Here are the 10 most hyped fighters to ever enter the Octagon.

Begin Slideshow

The Pros and Cons of Sonnen vs. Shogun as Fox Sports 1 Main Event

Shogun Rua and Chael Sonnen are names that have been on the lips of many fight fans for the last few days. With Minotouro Nogueira forced from a co-main event bout against Rua at UFC 161, Shogun vs. Sonnen was briefly tied to the event.On Tuesday …

Shogun Rua and Chael Sonnen are names that have been on the lips of many fight fans for the last few days. With Minotouro Nogueira forced from a co-main event bout against Rua at UFC 161, Shogun vs. Sonnen was briefly tied to the event.

On Tuesday night, Sonnen announced on UFC Tonight that the matchup is scheduled to headline August’s UFC on Fox Sports 1: 1 card.

As is to be expected with any major fight announcement, fight fans around the world are discussing this contest.

Here is a look at the pros and cons of booking Chael Sonnen vs Shogun Rua.

Begin Slideshow

Chael Sonnen vs. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua Headlines UFC on Fox Sports 1-1

UFC on Fox Sports 1-1 in Boston finally has its main event and it’s pitting a former UFC light heavyweight champion against the best promoter in the sport today. As announced on UFC Tonight on Tuesday, former 205-pound title holder Mauricio “Shogun” Ru…

UFC on Fox Sports 1-1 in Boston finally has its main event and it’s pitting a former UFC light heavyweight champion against the best promoter in the sport today.

As announced on UFC Tonight on Tuesday, former 205-pound title holder Mauricio “Shogun” Rua will headline the upcoming UFC on Fox Sports 1 card against middleweight title contender turned light heavyweight Chael Sonnen.

“I will be taking on Shogun, I will be fighting him on Fox Sports 1 on August 17 in Boston,” Sonnen revealed. 

Sonnen and Shogun flirted with the idea of fighting earlier this week as part of the UFC 161 card after the Brazilian’s original opponent Antonio Rogerio Nogueira fell out due to injury. Unfortunately a deal could not be struck in time, but the two light heavyweights will still meet, it will just happen a couple of months later instead.

Prior to the fight with Rua coming up, Sonnen had been verbally sparring with former Pride champion Wanderlei Silva for a few weeks, teasing a potential fight between them later this year. The fight never materialized, so Sonnen says he’s moved onto the fight with Shogun instead.

“I went after Wanderlei because he’s the worst guy I could find, record wise, he’s the worst fight in the UFC.  I know what you’re thinking what about (Mirko) CroCop? You’re right CroCop was terrible, but Wanderlei’s is actually a little bit worse,” Sonnen stated. “I couldn’t get Wanderlei.

“So I’m going look why don’t I fight the guy that actually destroyed Wanderlei for years in the practice room, and that brings us to Shogun. I like Shogun, I have nothing against Shogun, it’s just good, solid competition, but Wanderlei did this to you Shogun.”

Shogun is a former training partner of Silva’s when the two were part of the Chute Boxe camp in Brazil when both were competing in Pride Fighting Championships. They actually began training again as part of King’s MMA in California, although it’s unknown if the two Brazilians still work together currently.

Regardless of his affiliation now, Shogun will face Sonnen in the main event of the UFC on Fox Sports 1-1 card headed to Boston on August 17.

Damon Martin is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Sonnen vs. Shogun Could Still Happen Later but Just Not Meant to Be for UFC 161

It’s hard to ignore the similarities between UFC 161 in Winnipeg and UFC 149 in Calgary last year in terms of shows suffering major setbacks due to fighter injuries. The UFC 149 card was absolutely ravaged by injury and lost names like Jose Aldo, Eric …

It’s hard to ignore the similarities between UFC 161 in Winnipeg and UFC 149 in Calgary last year in terms of shows suffering major setbacks due to fighter injuries.

The UFC 149 card was absolutely ravaged by injury and lost names like Jose Aldo, Eric Koch, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and Michael Bisping along the way.  The final show that took place was a stark contrast from the card originally promoted.

It appears the UFC might just be cursed when traveling to Western Canada, because the same series of events started to unfold for UFC 161 a few weeks back when the main event for the UFC interim bantamweight title fight between Renan Barao and Eddie Wineland fell off the card after the champion suffered a foot injury.

The co-main event then also fell by the wayside following an injury to Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, which in turn left his opponent Mauricio “Shogun” Rua without an opponent as well.

It appeared the UFC might pull together a big-name replacement on short notice when Chael Sonnen offered up his name as a possible candidate, but for unknown reasons the fight never came together and Rua was yanked from the show as well.

On Tuesday during a media conference call, Tom Wright, director of Canadian operations for the UFC, was asked why the Rua vs. Sonnen fight didn’t come together.

Wright was unable to offer specifics, but he did say that a Rua-Sonnen fight could still happen down the road, just not at UFC 161.

“It’s one of those things, you know how it works for the UFC.  I can tell you that Dana (White) and Joe Silva would have been working very hard to find somebody to come in at a short period of time, but as the case with some of these things, a whole bunch of circumstances probably came into play,” Wright told Bleacher Report.  “In the end, it was felt the best thing to do was to let perhaps a Chael-Rua fight happen later, but we would go with the card we have in place.”

It was obvious by Wright’s response and when other similar questions came up on Tuesday that the promotion is shying away from any negativity surrounding the potential drawing power of the card after being devastated by so many injuries.

Keeping things positive was the message of the day from Wright, and the UFC seems content moving forward with UFC 161 as it stands today.

“I’m very confident these guys will put on a great show,” Wright said.  “We’ve got a bunch of champions, a bunch of Canadians, we’ve got the first ever women’s fight in Canada featuring Rosi Sexton and Canadian Alexis Davis, so nothing that I can comment on specifically why the Chael thing didn’t happen, but it is what it is and we’re going to move forward with a great night of fights.”

 

Damon Martin is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report and all quotes were obtained first hand unless otherwise noted.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com