Tag: Shogun Rua

Shogun Rua’s Return Targeted For UFC Adelaide

The former UFC champ has his next fight lined up.

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Shogun Rua’s return is being targeted for an upcoming UFC event later this year.

ESPN is reporting that the UFC is targeting a light heavyweight bout between Tyson Pedro and former UFC champion Rua for UFC Fight Night 142, also known as UFC Adelaide. An official announcement has not yet been released.

Rua is looking redemption as he was on a three-fight winning streak before stepping inside of the Octagon for his latest fight. As seen in the main event of UFC Hamburg (also known as UFC Fight Night 134) that took place at Barclaycard Arena in Hamburg, Germany, Anthony Smith was able to score a KO win over the former UFC light heavyweight champion.

The finish of the fight saw Smith land some brutal shots in 89 seconds with a flurry of punches and a vicious elbow that left him unconscious. He is 6-6 since dropping the light heavyweight title to Jon Jones in March 2011.

On the flip side, Pedro will attempt to rebound after suffering a loss in his most recent bout. He suffered a first-round submission defeat against Ovince Saint Preux at UFC Fight Night 132 in June.

UFC Adelaide

UFC Adelaide (also known as UFC Fight Night 142) is set to take place on Sunday, December 2, 2018, at Adelaide Entertainment Centre in Adelaide, South Australia. Here is the updated card:

Junior Dos Santos vs. Tai Tuivasa
Ben Nguyen vs. Wilson Reis
Kai Kara-France vs. Ashkan Mokhtarian
Paul Craig vs. Jim Crute
Tyson Pedro vs. Mauricio Rua

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Shogun Rua Reveals Target Date For MMA Retirement

Shogun Rua has a potential retirement date in mind.

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Shogun Rua revealed his targeted date to retire from a decorated career in MMA.

The former UFC champion recently saw a win streak disappear when he lost a brutal stoppage to surging contender Anthony Smith at UFC Hamburg.

While Rua may have missed out on a title shot due to the loss, he isn’t making excuses. Rua told MMA Fighting he had a great camp for the fight but simply got caught:

“Everything went right up until the end of the fight. I had a good camp, I had no injuries, I was 100 percent, and unfortunately he landed a straight punch and I got dizzy and he followed up with a flurry of punches and the referee stopped the fight. I think that my mistake was being a little exposed, and that’s when he landed.

“It’s not an excuse. But I was a little bit out of rhythm, with no distance, and that hurt me a little bit. But Anthony had all the merits.”

Rua then went on to describe his feelings at the loss. He’s not buying the talk he should retire, but instead wants to fight again. Overall he plans on fighting out the final three fights on his contract.

The legend claimed he would re-evaluate and would probably call it a career when the contract was done:

“I want to end this contract and then I think I’ll probably stop,” Rua said. “I don’t know. I’ll analyze it with my family and my team, everybody.”

Rua said his family often asked him to retire, but they also knew his passion for the fight game and why he fought on:

“Yes. All the time. They ask for that, but they understand me. Fighting is my work, my career and my passion, so there’s a lot involved. I will stop when I see it really is the right time to stop.”

While his time as a true light heavyweight contender may be closing, Rua insists that won’t deter him. He placed his focus on his next fight camp, whenever and against whom that may be:

“I’ll do everything it takes to get to my best,” Rua said. “I’m the one who wants to win more than anyone. I haven’t thought about it yet, but I’ll evaluate everything with a cool head and think about the next camp.”

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Shogun Rua Considering Retirement Once UFC Deal Ends

Mauricio “Shogun” Rua may hang up his gloves at the end of his current Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) deal. Rua is coming off a devastating knockout loss to Anthony Smith in the first round. Going into the bout, “Shogun” w…

Mauricio “Shogun” Rua may hang up his gloves at the end of his current Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) deal. Rua is coming off a devastating knockout loss to Anthony Smith in the first round. Going into the bout, “Shogun” was riding a three-fight winning streak. Rua’s prime years have been gone for quite some time […]

The post Shogun Rua Considering Retirement Once UFC Deal Ends appeared first on MMA News.

Report: ‘Serious’ Injury Kept Alexander Gustafsson Off UFC 227

Alexander Gustafsson’s injury was more serious than initially revealed.

The post Report: ‘Serious’ Injury Kept Alexander Gustafsson Off UFC 227 appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

The injury that kept Alexander Gustafsson off last weekend’s UFC 227 was apparently more serious than first revealed.

“The Mauler’s” original opponent Volkan Oezdemir pulled out of their scheduled main card bout. Anthony Smith soon knocked out Shogun Rua in Hamburg and immediately called out Gustafsson as a late replacement.

Gustafsson was forced out with a ‘minor’ undisclosed injury shortly thereafter, however. More than a bit of speculation arose based on the timing.

UFC President Dana White recently refuted those claims. Speaking on “The Mauler” during the ‘UFC Unfiltered’ podcast (via MMAjunkie), White said Gustafsson was seriously hurt:

“It wasn’t a minor injury; he actually had a serious injury to his hamstring. He doesn’t have to do surgery. He’s doing physical therapy, and we’re hoping he can come back before the end of the year. He was hurt, a legitimate injury, and he’s working on it. We’re trying to get him in before the end of the year.”

Gustafsson has long campaigned for a rematch with UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier. The two met in a classic five-round war in 2015, where Cormier emerged with a narrow split decision win.

His main goal is an understandable one with Cormier set to retire next year. Gustafsson has been out of action since a thrilling fifth-round knockout of Glover Teixeira in May 2017 and has never been the most consistent of fighters.

Gustafsson is obviously recovering from a significant injury, but one thing he has going for him is that Cormier is injured too.

Time will tell if “The Mauler” receives the title shot he’s been angling for.

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Anthony Smith Meets Volkan Oezdemir In Upcoming UFC Main Event

Anthony Smith will face Volkan Oezdemir in an upcoming UFC main event this fall.

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UFC Moncton has their main event.

Fast-rising light heavyweights Anthony Smith (30-13) will throw down with hard-hitting Volkan Oezdemir (15-2) on October 27, 2018, in a possible title eliminator of sorts.

Since moving up from middleweight to light heavyweight Smith has run rough shot over UFC mainstays Rashad Evans and Shogun Rua. “Lionheart” looks to make it a perfect 3-0 in the 205-pound division in 2018 thus earning him a title shot early next year.

Oezdemir, however, hasn’t fought since losing to Daniel Cormier back at UFC 220 in January of this year. “No Time” was forced to pull out of his fights with Shogun Rua and Alexander Gustafsson in the last few months due to nagging injuries.

This is the first fight announced for the UFC Fight Night card set to take place at the Moncton Events Centre in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada.

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UFC Rankings Update: Anthony Smith Surges Up LHW List

Is this high enough for Anthony Smith?

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The official UFC rankings have been updated after last week’s (Sun., July 22, 2018) UFC Fight Night 134 from Hamburg, Germany, and not surprisingly, Anthony Smith was the main benefactor.

The surging “Lionheart” brutally knocked out former champion Shogun Rua in the main event, earning the former middleweight the No. 9 spot in his debut on the light heavyweight ranks. Rua dropped three spots to No. 11 for the defeat.

Also at 205 pounds, Corey Anderson rose three spots to No. 6 when he secured the biggest win of his career over former No. 3 Glover Teixeira, who dropped five spots to No. 8. Ilir Latifi, Jan Blachowicz, and Jimi Manuwa all rose one spot to Nos. 3, 4, and 5 respectively.

At pound-for-pound, Conor McGregor inexplicably rose one spot to tie sidelined featherweight champion Max Holloway despite not fighting in the UFC since late 2016, perhaps a product of the thought he may return to action after clearing up his Brooklyn legal trouble this week.

You can check out the fully updated UFC rankings courtesy of UFC.com right here:

POUND-FOR-POUND
1 Daniel Cormier
2 Demetrious Johnson
3 Max Holloway
3 Conor McGregor +1
5 Georges St-Pierre
6 TJ Dillashaw
7 Tyron Woodley
8 Stipe Miocic
9 Khabib Nurmagomedov
10 Robert Whittaker
11 Cris Cyborg
12 Tony Ferguson
13 Amanda Nunes
14 Cody Garbrandt
15 Rose Namajunas

FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Demetrious Johnson
1 Henry Cejudo
2 Sergio Pettis
3 Joseph Benavidez
4 Ray Borg
5 Jussier Formiga
6 John Moraga
7 Wilson Reis
8 Alexandre Pantoja
9 Dustin Ortiz
10 Brandon Moreno -1
11 Ben Nguyen
12 Matheus Nicolau
13 Tim Elliott
14 Deiveson Figueiredo
15 Ulka Sasaki

BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: TJ Dillashaw
1 Cody Garbrandt
2 Dominick Cruz
3 Raphael Assuncao
4 Marlon Moraes
5 Jimmie Rivera
6 John Lineker
7 John Dodson
8 Aljamain Sterling
9 Pedro Munhoz
10 Cody Stamann
11 Rob Font
12 Alejandro Perez
13 Thomas Almeida
14 Brett Johns
15 Douglas Silva de Andrade

FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion: Max Holloway
1 Brian Ortega
2 Jose Aldo
3 Frankie Edgar
4 Jeremy Stephens
5 Cub Swanson
6 Josh Emmett
6 Chad Mendes +1
8 Mirsad Bektic
9 Chan Sung Jung
10 Renato Moicano
11 Alexander Volkanovski
12 Ricardo Lamas
13 Darren Elkins
14 Yair Rodriguez +1
15 Zabit Magomedsharipov -1

LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: Khabib Nurmagomedov
1 Tony Ferguson
2 Conor McGregor
3 Eddie Alvarez
4 Dustin Poirier
5 Kevin Lee
6 Edson Barboza
7 Justin Gaethje
8 Anthony Pettis
9 Nate Diaz
10 Al Iaquinta
11 James Vick
12 Michael Chiesa
13 Alexander Hernandez
14 Dan Hooker
15 Francisco Trinaldo

WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: Tyron Woodley
1 Colby Covington (Interim Champion)
2 Darren Till
3 Rafael Dos Anjos
4 Stephen Thompson
5 Robbie Lawler
6 Kamaru Usman
7 Demian Maia
8 Neil Magny
9 Jorge Masvidal
10 Santiago Ponzinibbio
11 Leon Edwards
12 Donald Cerrone
13 Gunnar Nelson
14 Alex Oliveira
15 Dong Hyun Kim

MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion: Robert Whittaker
1 Yoel Romero
2 Luke Rockhold
3 Chris Weidman
4 Kelvin Gastelum
5 Jacare Souza
6 Derek Brunson
7 David Branch
8 Paulo Costa
9 Israel Adesanya
10 Brad Tavares
11 Antonio Carlos Junior
12 Uriah Hall
13 Thiago Santos
14 Elias Theodorou
15 Krzysztof Jotko

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Daniel Cormier
1 Alexander Gustafsson
2 Volkan Oezdemir
3 Ilir Latifi +1
4 Jan Blachowicz +1
5 Jimi Manuwa +1
6 Corey Anderson +3
7 Ovince Saint Preux
8 Glover Teixeira -5
9 Anthony Smith *NR
10 Misha Cirkunov
11 Mauricio Rua -3
12 Dominick Reyes -1
13 Patrick Cummins -1
14 Tyson Pedro -1
15 Gadzhimurad Antigulov -1

HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Daniel Cormier
1 Stipe Miocic
2 Derrick Lewis
3 Curtis Blaydes
4 Francis Ngannou
5 Alexander Volkov
6 Alistair Overeem
7 Junior Dos Santos
8 Mark Hunt
9 Marcin Tybura
10 Tai Tuivasa
11 Aleksei Oleinik
12 Andrei Arlovski
13 Stefan Struve
14 Shamil Abdurakhimov
15 Justin Willis

WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT
Champion: Rose Namajunas
1 Joanna Jedrzejczyk
2 Jessica Andrade
3 Claudia Gadelha
4 Karolina Kowalkiewicz
5 Tecia Torres
6 Carla Esparza
7 Michelle Waterson
8 Felice Herrig
9 Tatiana Suarez
10 Cortney Casey
11 Alexa Grasso
12 Randa Markos
13 Nina Ansaroff
14 Joanne Calderwood
15 Angela Hill

WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Nicco Montano
1 Valentina Shevchenko
2 Sijara Eubanks
3 Alexis Davis
4 Liz Carmouche
5 Roxanne Modafferi
6 Lauren Murphy
7 Katlyn Chookagian
8 Jessica Eye
9 Barb Honchak
10 Jessica-Rose Clark
11 Ashlee Evans-Smith
12 Andrea Lee
13 Mara Romero Borella
14 Montana De La Rosa
15 Paige VanZant

WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: Amanda Nunes
1 Holly Holm
2 Ketlen Vieira
3 Julianna Pena
4 Raquel Pennington
5 Germaine de Randamie
6 Cat Zingano
7 Marion Reneau
8 Sara McMann
9 Aspen Ladd
10 Bethe Correia
11 Lina Lansberg
12 Irene Aldana
13 Lucie Pudilova
14 Sarah Moras
15 Gina Mazany

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