Tag: Mauricio Rua

Ben Rothwell out of UFC on Fox 4; Devin Cole to Replace Him?

An ankle injury has forced Big Ben Rothwell out of a main-card fight at next week’s UFC on Fox 4 event, according to MMAjunkie.com. Thankfully, the injury is minor and should only keep the heavyweight star out of action for a few weeks.Rothwell’s oppon…

An ankle injury has forced Big Ben Rothwell out of a main-card fight at next week’s UFC on Fox 4 event, according to MMAjunkie.com. Thankfully, the injury is minor and should only keep the heavyweight star out of action for a few weeks.

Rothwell’s opponent, Travis Browne, is to remain on the card, as he will likely face off against Devin Cole, according to Ariel Helwani of MMAFighting.com. However, the UFC has not made an official announcement regarding the replacement.

Cole is a veteran of Strikeforce, Shark Fights and the IFL. He is riding a two-fight winning streak at the shutdown of Strikeforce’s heavyweight division, and this will be his first appearance in the UFC.

Browne welcomed another Strikeforce import into the Octagon back at UFC 145 when he submitted Chad Griggs in the first round. The contest was Browne’s fifth in the UFC and boosted his professional record to 13-0-1.

Despite Rothwell coming off of a stellar knockout over Brendan Schaub, Browne was entering the fight as a 3:1 favorite according to bovada.lv.

There is no official word if Browne vs. Cole would remain on the main card.

UFC on Fox 4 takes place on Saturday, Aug. 4. The main event features former UFC champion Mauricio Rua in a light-heavyweight battle with Brandon Vera. With a solid co-main event of Lyoto Machida vs. Ryan Bader, the event looks to be the best card that the UFC has put on Fox to date.

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The 10 Biggest Fights the UFC Could Bring to Brazil

It doesn’t get much bigger than the UFC bringing events to Brazil.Don’t get me wrong, I love Las Vegas and events here in America, as well as in Canada, but no MMA crowd gets you pumped for a fight like Brazil does.UFC 147 might not have been the succe…

It doesn’t get much bigger than the UFC bringing events to Brazil.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Las Vegas and events here in America, as well as in Canada, but no MMA crowd gets you pumped for a fight like Brazil does.

UFC 147 might not have been the success that UFC thought it would be around January, but still, as expected, the Brazilian crowd was crazy and exciting just like they would’ve been if the card was stacked from top to bottom.

Wanderlei Silva vs. Rich Franklin wasn’t quite the Silva-Sonnen rematch the UFC was hoping to have in Brazil for the event, but still, Wanderlei and Franklin put on a show.

The UFC plans to host many more events in Brazil, including one already announced for sometime in last-quarter 2012. With that said, here are 10 major fights the UFC could bring to Brazil.

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5 Former Champs Who Will Wear UFC Gold Again

Being a champion is never a sure thing in the UFC. There are always up-and-comers who will be looking to take the belt and former champions looking to get it back.Champions will lose eventually, but the true sign of a champ is if you can come back and …

Being a champion is never a sure thing in the UFC. There are always up-and-comers who will be looking to take the belt and former champions looking to get it back.

Champions will lose eventually, but the true sign of a champ is if you can come back and reclaim “your” belt.

In the history of the UFC, only four fighters have ever accomplished such a feat. Those four are Randy Couture, Matt Hughes, Georges St-Pierre and Tim Sylvia.

Here are five fighters who will have a chance to add their names to that list of outstanding Hall of Fame-worthy fighters—and Sylvia.

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Chuck Liddell Says Shogun Rua Is Not One of the Great Fighters

File this one under “curious”: Chuck Liddell thinks that Mauricio “Shogun” Rua is not one of the greatest fighters of all-time.”Shogun is not among the great fighters, and never will be,” said ‘The Iceman’. “He needs much more to reach the level of And…

File this one under “curious”: Chuck Liddell thinks that Mauricio “Shogun” Rua is not one of the greatest fighters of all-time.

“Shogun is not among the great fighters, and never will be,” said ‘The Iceman’. “He needs much more to reach the level of Anderson Silva, for example.”

The reason it’s interesting, of course, is that Rua knocked Liddell cleanly unconscious when the two fought back in 2009.

Perhaps Liddell doesn’t remember that fight? He was in the middle of losing five of six fights, after all, and a little memory impairment can come with the territory when you’re violently knocked out four times in the later stages of your career.

Look—there is no question that Shogun is one of the greatest light heavyweights in the history of the sport.

When Liddell was tearing through the UFC with wild abandon, Shogun was doing the same thing in Japan. They were yin and yang, trapped on opposite sides of the ocean, with fans across the world wishing they could someday see two of the greatest cinch up their gloves and go to war.

Is Shogun on Anderson Silva’s level? No. That’s absurd. But Rua is absolutely one of the greats in the history of the sport, and it’s borderline asinine to think anything otherwise.

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Shogun Admits to Turning Down Teixeira Fight, But Denies Preferring Release

Mauricio “Shogun” Rua did turn down a fight with Glover Teixeira, but his reasoning is much different than UFC President Dana White’s.The UFC inquired about a possible bout with Teixeira after Thiago Silva, Shogun’s original opponent, was sidelined wit…

Mauricio “Shogun” Rua did turn down a fight with Glover Teixeira, but his reasoning is much different than UFC President Dana White‘s.

The UFC inquired about a possible bout with Teixeira after Thiago Silva, Shogun’s original opponent, was sidelined with an injury.

Shogun’s camp declined the fight with Teixeira, and a bout against Brandon Vera was agreed and accepted on instead for the UFC on Fox 4 main event.

In an interview with MMAjunkie, Shogun set the record straight about his reasoning for passing on a proposed fight with Teixeira.

“That was a miscommunication [that I preferred being released over fighting]. Since Teixeira has only one fight on his UFC record, my crew didn’t think that was interesting to fight him at this time. [Thiago Silva and Brandon Vera] do have a record in the UFC. Everybody knows them. That was the difference.

I’m happy fighting Brandon Vera because he has good Muay Thai. He’s very known with the UFC, and he was part of several important events in the UFC. He has way more impact than the other fighters, so that’s the reason we decided to fight him.”

Shogun’s comments rank on the other end of the spectrum in comparison to White’s.

About a couple of weeks ago, the UFC President insinuated that Shogun straight up didn’t want to fight Teixeira, and he would much rather be released than have to step into the cage against the UFC’s feared newcomer.

White spoke with Ariel Helwani about the situation during a post-fight interview for UFC on Fox 3:

“[Shogun] said he would actually rather be cut than have to fight [Teixeira]. Dude, nobody wants to fight this guy. We’re trying to match this guy up with somebody, but he didn’t mind fighting Brandon Vera, so, he’s fighting Brandon Vera.

I don’t want it to sound like I’m disrespecting Shogun because I’m not. I’m just telling the truth. It’s verbatim what his people said when we talked to him, and you know me, I tell it like it is. If you don’t want that out in public, then don’t say it to me, then don’t say it on the phone because I’m going to say what was said.”

The situation between White and Shogun has quickly turned into a useless battle of he said, he said.

Who do you believe?

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Mauricio "Shogun" Rua Denies Saying He’d Rather Be Cut Than Face Glover Teixeira

UFC fans were buzzing with skepticism when it was announced that Mauricio “Shogun” Rua turned down a bout against rising prospect Glover Teixeira. The drama became even bigger when Dana White said that “Shogun” told him he’d rather be cut than face Tei…

UFC fans were buzzing with skepticism when it was announced that Mauricio “Shogun” Rua turned down a bout against rising prospect Glover Teixeira. The drama became even bigger when Dana White said that “Shogun” told him he’d rather be cut than face Teixeira.

The plot has thickened, as Rua is now telling MMAJunkie.com that he never said he’d rather be cut.

“That was a miscommunication,” Rua said.

Rua was originally scheduled to face Thiago Silva at UFC 149, but Silva backed out of the fight due to injury. Teixeira was then brought into the fray as Silva’s replacement. Teixeira won his UFC debut in impressive fashion, vindicating the hype surrounding him.

White pointed to Teixeira not being a top-10 fighter as the main reason for Rua not accepting the bout, per MMAJunkie.com:

“..the reason they were saying that was, ‘Oh, he’s not top 10,'” White said following this month’s UFC on FX 3 event. “But then we offered him [Brandon] Vera, and he took it in two seconds—and Vera isn’t top 10 either.”

“Shogun” was quick to counter that claim by explaining the reasoning behind his decision to accept the Vera fight over fighting Teixeira.

“But [Silva and Vera] do have a record in the UFC. Everybody knows them. That was the difference,” Rua said.

It seemed as if White didn’t care for that notion of thinking.

“Me and (UFC CEO) Lorenzo (Fertitta) said, ‘Look, you can’t turn down fights at this level. The money you’re making and where you are ranked in the world, you don’t turn down fights at this level. We might have to cut you,'” White said. “[Rua] said, ‘I’d rather be cut than fight him.'”

No matter what side you believe, it sounds as if all parties got what they wanted as Rua faces the opponent he wanted and the UFC keeps one of their bigger names in the 205-division active.

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