The Answer: Shogun’s Title Shot

I know that I am not the only one that wonders how Shogun earned a title shot in the deepest division in the sport.  Mauricio Shogun Rua was once a superstar across the pond, but has hardly been but a shell of that fighter.  This is my attempt at making sense of the Shogun title shot.

In his career Rua has defeated Kevin Randleman, Alistair Overeem, Antonio Nogueira, Rampage Jackson, and Akihiro Gono.  He once won 8 straight fights and was to be the future of Pride.  Since that time Pride has rode off into the sunset and so has many of Rua’s fans.

In September of 2007, Rua stepped into the UFC Octagon for the first time.  Many felt that this was a welcome to the UFC fight and a fight he was supposed to win.  One that felt differant was Forrest Griffin.  Griffin is a tough fighter that doesn’t know what the word quit means.  In Rua’s introduction fight he looked terrible and eventually lost to the rising posterboy and coverman of the UFC’s new video game.  Rua was off of his injury, but looked terrible in the fight.  Worst off was his conditioning.

Next up for Rua was an aged Mark Coleman.  Speaking of conditioning, by the end of this fight both fighters looked like they needed a sub.  The fight had a decent pace, but the two were obviously not in true fighting shape.  Fighters such as Sean Sherk or Clay Guida would simply laugh at how bad their conditioning appeared.  Age may have won this fight for Rua as he won what appeared more of a war of attrition as he landed a few fight ending shot late in the third.  Although this was a win, it was far from impressive.

Then came the fight many felt was a retirement fight.  One for Chuck Liddell that is.  Almost everyone seen Chuck as the winner before the opening bell, but it was Rua’s hand that was raised at the end of the fight.  It took Rua less than a minute to dismantle the UFC’s newest falling star.

Now a title shot?  It doesn’t make sense on the outside but when you think about it, it kinda does.  I reiterate, kinda!  not in the traditional these are the two best in the division way, but in the who else is there way…  Machida needs a tune up fight before he takes on the winner of the next season of TUF (Rampage and Rashad).  So that takes Rampage and Rashad out of the mix.  Then you look at Forrest Griffin, in what would be a rematch and a chance to get that loss back, but Griffin is slated to take on P4P great Anderson Silva at UFC 101.  Wanderlei Silva is set to fight Rich Franklin at UFC 99.  Enough dancing, there is noone else for Rua to fight!  Without throwing him a UFC bottom dweller, this is pretty much Joe Silva’s only/best option.

In life, timing is everything.  If the Rua of old shows up, he could make it a fight with Machida.  If the Machida of present shows up, it may not matter which Rua shows up.  In the end, the question of WHY may have found an answer.  Other questions about Rua will arise between now and that fight, but none more than his conditioning.  If he is not ready for this fight he will get destroyed!