Mauricio “Shogun” Rua led a training seminar a couple days after a relatively lopsided loss to new champion Jon Jones at UFC 128 last weekend. Rua is still recovering from the fight and has a mandatory medical suspension, though still wants to remain active and stay in the gym.
“I’m just bummed out,” Shogun said in a phone conversation with Renzo Gracie, according to Graciemag. “He hits hard, I took a knee shot early on and was out of it the whole fight.”
In the published pictures, Shogun’s face is clearly bruised and banged up from his fight with Jones. Despite being able to hang with him for a short while, Jones clearly looked to be the sharper, better fighter — and battered the former PRIDE superstar to survive until the ref stopped the fight in R3.
Further evidence shows Rua also tapped due to the amount of punishment he absorbed from Jones’ dominant performance.
Despite the loss, Shogun should still find appealing matchups against top-level competition in the UFC, with fans still hopeful he has something left. The Brazilian BJJ black belt and Muay Thai fighter will still be able to give fits to most UFC light heavyweights, so we’ll have to wait to see who his next opponent will be.
Shogun will be back no doubt in my mind, I am a huge fan. Jones will be a tough nut to crack for anyone because of his reach, unorthodox striking and more than capable wrestling background. However in mma once that mystique is gone, others will follow. Just ask Machida, whose style I also admire. MMA is a sport in so much flux right now, with many styles to be absorbed and assimilated. It will be a long time before MMA is a style unto itself. Until then we are in for a very long and entertaining ride. Halaluja and amen to that fight fans everywhere