Volkan Oezdemir still views Mauricio “Shogun” Rua as a threat.
On May 19, Oezdemir will do battle with Rua inside the Movistar Arena in Santiago, Chile. The bout will be part of the UFC Chile card. It’ll be “No Time’s” first bout since coming up short in his bid to capture light heavyweight gold.
The Oezdemir vs. Rua booking puzzled many. Oezdemir is the number two ranked 205-pounder in the world, while Rua’s best days are far behind him. Our own Adam Martin talked about the state of the UFC’s light heavyweight division following the bout’s announcement.
During a recent appearance on MMAFighting.com‘s “The MMA Hour,” Oezdemir insisted that Rua can’t be taken lightly:
“‘Shogun’ is still ‘Shogun.’ He’s been into wars, he’s not afraid of anything. So he’s still a dangerous fighter, definitely.”
He went on to say that it’s an honor to be taking on “Shogun.”
“Since I sign with the UFC, my manager always ask me one thing, he said ‘who do you want to fight?’ The only guy I always say I want to fight was Shogun because he’s somebody who, you know, I grew up watching him. I started watching PRIDE and he was the man at the time and he was one of my favorite fighters. So definitely that’s somebody I want to fight. I think it’s just amazing to be able to fight someone you’ve been looking up to.”
Does Volkan Oezdemir vs. “Shogun” Rua interest you?
