Mauricio Rua - Coming Home
/ 0
- Details
- Category: UFC News
- Published on Thursday, 25 August 2011 05:00
- Written by By Thomas Gerbasi
The last time Mauricio Rua fought in his home country of Brazil, things were a lot different than they will be on Saturday night, when he performs before thousands at the HSBC Arena against Forrest Griffin in the co-main event of UFC RIO.
Back then, in August of 2003, the 21-year old Rua was just two fights into his mixed martial arts career, years removed from his Grand Prix title in PRIDE and his light heavyweight championship in the UFC. He was a kid with potential – no more, no less. His opponent that night in the Meca World Vale Tudo 9 event in Rio De Janeiro was the local hotshot – Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos.
“I remember it perfectly, as it was a very exciting and hard fight,” said Rua through manager / translator Eduardo Alonso. “Back then, Cyborg was tough and very feared; he was beating everyone and I was still very young, so people didn't give me much of a chance.”
But Rua showed the heart, power, and talent that would soon become his hallmarks that night, as he stopped Santos at the 8:12 mark of the bout to move to 3-0 as a pro.
“That fight was a war and I got my brown belt in BJJ after that fight,” he recalled. “It was a very important win on my record back then.”
Next stop, the world.
Eight years later, when the discussion turns to the best 205-pounders on the planet, Rua’s name is always prominently mentioned, and rightfully so. But despite still being a few months removed from his 30th birthday, he is being greeted with questions about his future following the loss of his UFC title to Jon Jones in March of this year. The loss, a third round TKO, sent shockwaves through the Curitiba native’s devoted fanbase, and it hit the fighter just as hard.
“It was a very sad defeat, and it really made me think a lot,” said Rua. “However, you have to put things behind you and work hard to achieve your goals, so as soon as I started to train again it was in the past.”
That’s the key to success in anything. Dwelling on your losses and setbacks will only keep you chained to them. Rua has only tasted the bitterness of defeat five times in his nearly nine year career, and each time he has been able to shake off the disappointment and move on. He’s never lost two in a row, and he doesn’t intend on starting that habit now.
But this comeback fight is different, mainly because the man he’s facing – Griffin – is the one who shot an arrow through Rua’s aura of invincibility back in September of 2007.
Before that fight, Rua had lost a 2003 bout to Renato Sobral, one which you could write off due to inexperience, and a 2006 PRIDE bout to Mark Coleman which ended due to a freak injury. So when he made his move to the UFC, he did so as an unstoppable force whose greatest accomplishment to date was the 2005 Grand Prix tournament win that saw him defeat Quinton Jackson, Rogerio Nogueira, Alistair Overeem, and Ricardo Arona in succession. Griffin, while popular and a legit 205-pound contender, was not going to have a chance with “Shogun.”
Griffin didn’t get the memo, and with 15 seconds left in the bout, he submitted Rua via rear naked choke. Rua was crushed.
“It was very sad,” he said, when asked about the morning after the UFC 76 defeat. “It was a tough phase of my life with many changes being done, and others on the way, and losing is always sad. But things come for a reason so you have to learn from your experiences.”
Was he as shocked with the result as the rest of the world was?
“I'm a very confident fighter, and I always do my best and believe in my chances,” said Rua. “Obviously I entered the fight thinking I would win, but I wasn't shocked at all, because I knew he was tough and when you enter a fight it's either winning or losing.”
Saddled with a series of knee surgeries in the...
