Mma Profile: Mauricio Rua

By Author: Kristopher Dillon
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Mauricio Rua is a Brazilian mixed martial artist who currently fights in the Ultimate Fight Championship. He is currently the UFC Light Heavyweight Champion and the number one ranked light heavyweight fighter in the world according to Sherdog.com. His nickname is Shogun.

Rua was born in Curitiba, Brazil. His father is a successful businessman and his mother was a former track athlete who still runs in marathons. His older brother Murilo was also a successful MMA fighter.

Rua made his MMA debut in 2002 at Meca World Vale Tudo 7, defeating Rafael Capoeira by first round KO. He had a very successful beginning to his MMA career, winning four of his first five MMA fights. The lone loss came to Renato Babau Sobral by way of a guillotine choke. As a result of his success, he was noticed by PRIDE Fighting Championships, and they were interested in bringing Rua to their organization.

Rua took the PRIDE Fighting Championships (no longer in existence) by storm, losing only 1 time in 13 fights. His lone loss came to Mark Coleman after he dislocated his elbow on a takedown. During his illustrious career with PRIDE, ...
... he won the PRIDE Middleweight Grand Prix.

After PRIDE fell, Rua signed on with UFC. His debut came in a highly-anticipated match between him and Forrest Griffin at UFC 76. While with PRIDE, he had become renowned for his wild, aggressive style, and use of stomps and soccer kicks to downed opponents. He barely resembled the fighter he was while with PRIDE, and he eventually succumbed to Griffin via rear naked choke.

Shortly after losing to Griffin, it was discovered the Rua had suffered a knee injury while training. The injury necessitated surgery. Following the surgery, he picked up his first UFC win over Mark Coleman at UFC 93 that failed to create the same excitement fans had come to expect from his fights.

Rua's first UFC fight that truly resembled his style came at UFC 97 against former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Chuck Liddell. He knocked him out in the first round with a vicious left hook followed by hammer fists. The exciting win catapulted him into the top ten rankings, thus giving him a chance to compete for the Light Heavyweight Championship.

Rua's next fight ended in controversy. It came at UFC 104, when he lost a unanimous fight to light heavyweight champion Lyota Machida. The controversy came when many prominent UFC people, including UFC president Dana White, believed Rua was the true winner of the fight. According to CompuStrike, Rua landed almost twice as many strikes as Machida did.

Due to the controversy at UFC 104, a rematch was scheduled between Rua and Machida for UFC 113. This time, the end result worked in Rua's favor, as he knocked Machida out in the first round. With the win, he was awarded the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship.

Dana White has officially confirmed that Rua will defend his title by fighting against the winner of Rashad Evans and Quinton Jackson. Evans defeated Jackson via unanimous decision and will go on to challenge Rua for the Light Heavyweight Championship.

AUTHOR:-
Kristopher Dillon writes reviews on various sporting events including the online sportsbook. In this piece of write up the author highlights one of the most popular sports MMA and MMA betting odds. The author also seeks the readers' opinion on how mixed martial arts betting online occur.