Former UFC light heavyweight champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua was still going to push through and compete next month against Rashad Evans before the promotion pulled him out.
Rua injured his knee, according to long-time coach Rafael Cordeiro in an interview with MMAFighting.com, but the plan was to still face Evans at UFC on FOX 19. The UFC went ahead and replaced Rua with Glover Teixeira for the co-main event fight.
“Shogun had a knee injury for a while, and felt it again training jiu-jitsu,” Cordeiro said. “He went to the UFC doctor to check and continued training, but the UFC contacted him and cancelled the fight. Shogun said he would still fight despite the injury, but the UFC called and decided to cancel.
“That came directly from Lorenzo (Fertitta). Lorenzo saw the exams, saw it was an old injury, and the UFC decided to remove him from the fight. He’s out of this one.”
Rua (23-10) was hoping to build upon his August victory over Antonio Rogerio Nogueira in a meeting with Evans five-years in the making. When he held the title, the Brazilian was to defend it vs. “Suga,” but an injury knocked the challenger out.
At that time, Jon Jones stepped in for Evans and finished Rua in the third round. Since, the former PRIDE middleweight champion has gone just 4-6, including knockout losses to Ovince Saint Preux and Dan Henderson.
In regards to a potential Rua fight on the upcoming UFC 198 card also slated for Brazil, Cordeiro said that will be up to the UFC to “determine Shogun’s return.”
“He’s physically prepared for a fight,” he said, “excluding this old knee injury.”
