Forrest Griffin vs. Mauricio Rua Rematch to Take Place at UFC Rio Event A rematch of the epic September 2007 matchup between Forrest Griffin and Mauricio "Shogun" Rua will take place at the UFC's upcoming event in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, MMA Fighting has learned from sources with knowledge of the situation. Early Friday morning, UFC president Dana White confirmed to MMA Fighting that the two former light-heavyweight champions would clash again. The original scrap between the two took place at UFC 76, with Griffin winning via third-round submission, pulling off the finish with just 15 seconds left in the bout. Griffin used the momentum of that win to propel him into a championship victory over Quinton "Rampage" Jackson in July 2008. Griffin is coming off a UFC 126 unanimous decision win over Rich Franklin, which improved his record to 18-6. Rua, meanwhile, is coming off his UFC title loss to Jon Jones at UFC 128. UFC 134 will take place at HSBC Arena on August 27, and marks the first UFC event held in Brazil since 1998. The main event will see long-reigning middleweight champion Anderson Silva attempting to defend his belt against Yushin Okami in another long-awaited rematch.
Rua better start working on another knee injury to blame this loss on. Unless he catches Griffin early, Forrest will wear him down and win again in my opinion. The idea of introducing some of the best leg kicks in MMA to a pair of the worst knees in MMA doesn't sound too promising for Rua.
timing really is everything. a few months ago, everyone would've picked rua to win imo. now it's a pick'em fight.
by everyone, you must mean TLC. At no point after the first Griffin vs Rua fight would I ever have considered picking Rua. Forrest dominated him.
Yep. And you can blame it on the knee or bad training or whatever, but I'd bet the house that Rua fades just as easily in the rematch. Unless he hurts Griffin early, it will be a grueling fight as Forrest always pushes a difficult pace. And that isn't a fight that the current version of Rua can win.
