A number of UFC fighters have publicly announced their retirements of late, but Mauricio “Shogun” Rua isn’t one of them.
Talk of the former UFC and Pride FC champion hanging up his gloves swirled across social media following his TKO loss to Paul Craig at UFC 255 last November. UFC President Dana White even said Rua looked like a “shell of his former self” following the event.
“I think he has two fights left on his deal,” White went on to say at the time. “But yeah, I’d like to see him retire.”
However, Shogun isn’t ready to retire just yet and told Brazilian media outlet OSS that he wants to fight out those aforementioned bouts that remain on his UFC contract.
“In my last fight I hurt my arm, so I have not been able to return 100 percent to jiu-jitsu and grappling training. My goal is return in September,” he said [via Sherdog]. “My next fight may be the last, but I don’t want to put any pressure on myself about that because I still have two fights in my contract.”
Before that Craig fight at UFC 255, Rua had compiled five wins from his previous eight contests, drawing one of those with Scotland’s Craig in their first bout.
That run has seen him victorious against compatriot Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (twice), Corey Anderson, Gian Villante and Tyson Pedro.
