Mauricio “Shogun” Rua picked up the upset victory at UFC Adelaide over sizable favorite Tyson Pedro in front of Pedro’s home country of Australia and made one thing crystal clear: he is far from done in this sport. The win certainly didn’t come easy for Rua, however. In fact, Shogun Rua found himself in deep waters in the first round when Tyson Pedro appeared to be on the verge of stopping the fight. (Transcript via MMAjunkie)
“Actually, I don’t remember it,” Rua said of the first round in the post-fight press conference as made available by Submission Radio. “When I went to the corner after the first round, I didn’t know if I had lost or won it. I really wasn’t aware that I took a flash (knockdown) there. I found out now, when I left the octagon, that he won the first round. In the second, I was able to win and wear him out a little. I was very happy that I was able to do the strategy.”
Even though Shogun Rua has been winning much more than losing and certainly has the name and résumé behind him, he is very realistic about where he currently stands in the light heavyweight title picture:
“I won four out of five, but I know I don’t deserve the belt yet,” Rua said. “There are people ahead of me in the title line. My focus now is fighting in Curitiba, in May (though Rua’s hometown of Curitiba has been speculated as a possible destination in Brazil, it hasn’t been confirmed by the promotion yet). That’s my focus. I don’t think about the belt because I know it’s not my shot yet.”
As for what the future holds for the legend, the only thing Shogun Rua knows for certain: he won’t hang up the gloves a moment too soon:
“I don’t want to stop and then think that I shouldn’t have stopped. I want to stop when I see that I am really done with fighting. I don’t want to regret having stopped before that.”
What do you think the future holds for Shogun Rua after UFC Adelaide?
