Tag: UFC Hamburg

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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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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Anthony Smith Accuses Cormier Of Holding Up LHW Division

Anthony Smith doesn’t want to see the 205-pound division held up.

The post Anthony Smith Accuses Cormier Of Holding Up LHW Division appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

This past weekend (Sun. July 22, 2018) in Hamburg, Germany, Anthony Smith surged up the ladder in the UFC light heavyweight division when he defeated former 205-pound champ Mauricio “Shogun” Rua.

Smith obliterated Rua in the first round by knockout. He made a case for UFC light heavyweight title contention with the victory or a title eliminator fight at the very least. Prior to the fight there were rumblings of Rua getting a crack at UFC light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier with a potential victory.

Cormier is a double UFC champion at the moment as he holds the heavyweight and light heavyweight titles. There is worry amongst the 205-pound weight class that due to Cormier’s dealings with Brock Lesnar it could hold up the light heavyweight title picture.

Smith spoke on the matter after his win over Rua and said Cormier shouldn’t do the dishonorable thing and hold up the division (quotes via Bloody Elbow):

“The top of the division is a disaster right now,” Smith said. “‘Shogun’ was supposed to be next and now he’s not. No one knows what’s going on with Cormier. I think that that’s the first step, we need to figure out if Cormier’s staying or going.

“I’ve said this before, I think that Daniel is an honorable man and it wouldn’t be a very honorable thing to do to hold up the division. He knows right now. You guys could ask him 100 times and he won’t tell you, but he knows if he’s coming back down or not, and I think that he needs to make that public so we can figure out what we’re all doing.”

After his UFC heavyweight title victory over Stipe Miocic at UFC 226, Cormier had a physical confrontation with Lesnar inside the Octagon. UFC President Dana White noted that Cormier vs. Lesnar will be the next UFC heavyweight title bout to take place.

Lesnar isn’t eligible to fight until January. Cormier could either get a light heavyweight title defense in during that time or simply sit out until his eventual collision with “The Beast.”

It should be interesting to see how Cormier’s scenario plays out, and how it affects the light heavyweight division in the process.

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UFC Hamburg Viewership Averages 492,000

Viewership numbers for UFC Hamburg have been revealed. The afternoon FOX Sports 1 broadcast drew an average of 492,000 viewers (via MMAFighting.com). The event peaked at 546,000 viewers for the heavyweight clash between Marcin Tybura and Stefan Struve….

Viewership numbers for UFC Hamburg have been revealed. The afternoon FOX Sports 1 broadcast drew an average of 492,000 viewers (via MMAFighting.com). The event peaked at 546,000 viewers for the heavyweight clash between Marcin Tybura and Stefan Struve. The event also took in 9,150 viewers from FOX Sports Go and FOX now. This card was held inside the […]

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Shogun Rua Reacts To Brutal UFC Hamburg Loss To Anthony Smith

Last night (Sun. July 22, 2018) former UFC light heavyweight champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua’s dreams of perhaps re-capturing 205-pound gold went up in smoke. The Brazilian was stopped in the first round by Anthony Smith by way of brut…

Last night (Sun. July 22, 2018) former UFC light heavyweight champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua’s dreams of perhaps re-capturing 205-pound gold went up in smoke. The Brazilian was stopped in the first round by Anthony Smith by way of brutal knockout. Smith will likely climb up the ladder to take on a tougher tier of competition, […]

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PHOTO: Stefan Struve Shares Nasty Image Of Chin Cut From UFC Hamburg

UFC heavyweight Stefan Struve suffered a pretty gnarly cut last night (Sun. July 22, 2018) in Germany. The Dutchman succumbed to Marcin Tybura via unanimous decision after getting out-wrestled for the majority of the three round contest. During one of …

UFC heavyweight Stefan Struve suffered a pretty gnarly cut last night (Sun. July 22, 2018) in Germany. The Dutchman succumbed to Marcin Tybura via unanimous decision after getting out-wrestled for the majority of the three round contest. During one of their exchanges, however, Struve suffered a deep cut on his chin. The hole was so […]

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