by Matt Erickson on Jun 09, 2012 at 3:15 am ET SUNRISE, Fla. – To hear Dana White tell it, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua really doesn't want to fight Glover Teixeira. That news came out earlier this month. But on Friday, White expanded on Rua's decision to turn down a fight with the new UFC light heavyweight prospect – saying the former champion was even willing to be released from the organization rather than take a fight with Teixeira. "He would rather be cut than fight him," White said following Friday's post-fight press conference for UFC on FX 3. Rua was scheduled to face Thiago Silva at UFC 149 next month, but Silva fell off the card with an injury. And as MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) first reported earlier this month, the UFC asked Rua to take on fellow Brazilian Teixeira, who this past month debuted in the promotion with a first-round submission of Kyle Kingsbury to extend his winning streak to 16. With Rua turning down that fight, he was shifted earlier this week to the headlining spot of UFC on FOX 4 in August, where he'll now meet Brandon Vera. "No (I'm not OK with him saying that)," White said of Rua. "But you know what? It's one of those very weird situations to hear one of the top-five guys in the world say, 'I'd rather be cut than fight a guy who isn't ranked,' and the reason they were saying that was, 'Oh, he's not top 10.' But then we offered him Brandon Vera and he took it in two seconds – and Vera isn't top 10 either." The new situation does have some benefits, White said. With a previous UFC on FOX 4 headlining fight between Brian Stann and Hector Lombard falling off with a Stann injury, White can now headline the next FOX broadcast with Rua, who has not fought since a November loss to Dan Henderson at UFC 139 that was instantly regarded as an all-time classic. "'Shogun's' on free TV (now), and he's coming off one of the greatest fights ever in mixed-martial-arts history," White told MMAjunkie.com. But the whole situation still appears to have left White a little baffled at Rua and his team's stance on turning the proposed Teixeira fight down – especially with the threat of a possible pink slip. "The reality is, 'Shogun' is a guy whom I respect," White said. "The guy's been through a million wars with all the best guys in the world. But for some reason, he does not want to fight this dude Glover. And you know me – if you don't want me to tell the truth, don't say stuff to me on the phone. That's exactly what happened. That's exactly the way it went down. And me and (UFC CEO) Lorenzo (Fertitta) said, 'Look, you can't turn down fights at this level. The money you're making and where you are ranked in the world, you don't turn down fights at this level. We might have to cut you.' He said, 'I'd rather be cut than fight him.'" Rua, of course, has not been cut and will fight Vera in August, perhaps leaving White and the UFC brass wondering about a fight that might have been. Teixeira, meanwhile, still does not have his next fight booked.
Glover manager denies that Shogun turned down a fight with his fighter :dunno::dunno: This is kind of weird. And Gatti, their is nothing to suggest Vera-Shogun will be a good fight, Vera has been awful latel and should be rolled over pretty easilly
Lets talk real right now. Rua is not a dummy. He know Glover is a bad man, and a young stud up and coming. That is an absolutely horrible fight for him. If Rua wins, it does fuck for him. If he loses, he is waaaay out of a title shot. I do not blame Rua one bit for telling Dana to find another "gatekeeper" for Glover to fight. Fuck, give Glover Phil Davis, Mark Hamil, BRANDON VERA, for christs sake. Rua, wants a fight or two and another shot at Jones. Thats it. He knows the tread is wearing close. And yes, I don't blame him for denying he wouldn't take the fight. Fuck that. The dude is a HOF of MMA. White should fucking be ashamed of himself for treating him like this. Serious.
no doubt about it, at this stage of his career, their'S not way Shogun should fight a highly rated nobody like Texeira is. Let Glover build his name first before trying to feed Shogun to him. that way, at least if Rua wins, it will mean something to his career. Mauricio, while not in his prime, is not so far gone to be used as a stepping stone.
I agree, I don't blame Rua at all for this. He's a legend and just had one of the best fights in a while in the UFC. I think he's earned the right not to be matched up with a good unknown, that is basically all risk no reward.
Sure it's a smart move by Rua. The risk of Glover is nowhere near the reward for beating him at this point. Rua got an easy fight with Vera that will give him a win and keep him a viable opponent for any other big name light heavy. But shame on the UFC for relenting. One of the things that makes me follow the UFC is the fact that they typically don't allow fighters to dodge each other. Sure they don't always pit friends against each other like Rua and Silva or Nog and JDS or whatever. But they always make the tough fights. Now Rua demands another opponent and the UFC gives in? Sounds alot like the flawed boxing match making model to me. In other words, give contenders easy work to keep them in the mix. It's another misstep by the UFC in my opinion. On top of that, fans suffer. Teixeira vs Shogun would have been an interesting fight to MMA fans but instead we get Brandon Vera fighting miles outside his talent class, again. Even this diminished version of Shogun is miles beyond Vera's ability.
Ok, lets cut the shit. Big boys know all the answers here. Rua accepts the fight with Vera because its an easy win against a NAME opponent. Yes Glover is better than Vera, but most of the world has no idea who he is. Vera is known by casual fans. Thats it. Its as simple as that. With a win against Vera, especially a spectacular one, he is in line for a rematch or a title eliminator bout. A win vs Glover does fuck for him. If they gave him a shot at jones after beating Glover, there are guys right here on this forum who would say "wtf?? Glover isn't even top 10":wack: Anthony, cmon homey. Everyone knows Rua is at the end. Of course he is. The dude has been fighting professionally almost as long as Jones has been alive. He has a few more fights and its time to hang it up. No need to expend any of that energy on "up and comers". Trp, I completely agree. My beef is that they even made this public. Dana is trying to play his bully tactics and it isn't gonna work with Rua. Yes, Rua would walk. And he called Dana's bluff. Dana doesn't want him to walk and Rua knows it. Dana says allot of shit about we don't tolerate this and we don't tolerate that, but what he really means is we tolerate it if we need you, we won't if we don't. He's a bullshitter and Rua called his bullshit. We don't agree on Glover vs Rua being a fight the fans would be interested in. Most fans don't know who the fuck Glover is yet. Glover has had one fight in the UFC. He should be fighting Ortiz, or Forrest Griffin. Instead they give him a guy who is a fight out of the title? Tell me how that makes sense. It doesn't and we all know it. They want another guy to throw in agains Jones, and that is all that match was about.
It would be funny as hell, but you and I both know, Vera aint whoopin anyone. It would be a pickem fight against Hamil for fucks sake.
while I can't blame Shogun for refusing ot fight Texiera, the UFC shouldn:'t have given a total freebie like he just got in Vera. Thiago Silva, wich he was supposed to fight, would have been a decent fight ( what happened to this fight ??). A Rampage rematch would have been even better. Gustafson would have been the fight I'd really push forth had I been the UFC
I was amazed when I found that out too, Shogun always seems so much younger than you realise, he seems to have been around forever.
