Mauricio Rua vs. Forrest Griffin II set for UFC: Rio in August
Posted on April 15, 2011, 02:15 PM by Joey Santosus
A rematch between two former Light Heavyweight Champions, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua and Forrest Griffin, has been added to the UFC: Rio line-up.
The match-up was first reported by GracieMag.com and has since been confirmed by UFC officials.
Their first meeting took place in 2007 at UFC 76. The bout marked Rua's promotional debut, and though the former PRIDE Champion was favored by many, Griffin pulled off the upset, submitting the Brazilian with just fifteen seconds remaining in the fight.
Following the loss, Rua was sidelined for more than a year due to a nagging knee injury, but returned with back-to-back TKO victories over Mark Coleman and Chuck Liddell before dropping a controversial unanimous decision to then-champ Lyoto Machida. Due to the questionable outcome of the bout, "Shogun" was granted an immediate rematch at UFC 117, where he scored a first round knockout victory over Machida to capture the division title. Rua, however, lost the belt last month, when he suffered a third-round TKO loss to current Champion Jon "Bones" Jones.
Griffin, meanwhile, continued building momentum following his win over Rua by dethroning Quinton "Rampage" Jackson at UFC 86. His title reign was cut short, however, when he was defeated by Rashad Evans just five months later. The Ultimate Fighter 1 winner has since went 2-1, with decision victories over both Rich Franklin and Tito Ortiz.
UFC: Rio is set to take place August 27th from the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The landmark card will be headlined by a Middleweight title clash between division Champion Anderson "The Spider" Silva and challenger Yushin "Thunder" Okami and will mark the promotion's first trip back to the country since 1998.
Photo: UFC fighter Mauricio "Shogun" Rua in Los Angeles, California on October 21, 2009. Francis Specker
Comments
i saw this coming. i love forrest be he doesnt have a shot
I'd bet Shogun has a little fire in his belly for this one too.
Hes going to rip Griffins head off! Coming off a terrible loss and losing his belt! And its in RIO!!! My skrilla is on Rua hands down!
'I love forrest, but he doesn't have a shot.' What? Like the first time... not saying he's gonna win but he definitely has a shot!
yeah forest beat sho gun once! but once again sho gun was not a 100 per cent in that fight forest got very lucky ! i still think jones got lucky ! sho gun was laid up a long time . i think sho gun will destroy griffin ! and get his title shot !
Sick match up...been waiting for this rematch for a while now, obviously good with Shogun but u can never count out Griffin....didnt think Griffin was going to beat Shogun the first time or beat Rampage for that title and he proved me wrong both times
this is mma there is no luck..i hate when people win and everyone says oh he was lucky blah blah blah.. no in mma the only time a win or loss is even close to being questionable is when it goes to decision.
Yup, your dumb allright.
Forest was also injured in that fight. I believe it was his shoulder.
how u know the "100% shogun" will show up this time? its anyones fight bottom line. It could go either way
theres no luck in mma? its not lucky for your opponent to be 100% in training and then have a severe flu when he fights you? (chris leben vs brian stann). its not lucky when youre about to fight a legend and his injuries make him fight half of the fight he couldve fought if he didnt have those injuries? (shogun vs griffin).
theres luck in every sport buddy
that is not luck..that is life jackass
forrest isnt on his level people. get serious. this is coming from someone who trained with forrest
Yes, If he doesn't have a shot then Bet Your House against him this time and you might win another house !!! Oh wait.... You already lost it the last time you bet.
hes not on his level.... and yet he submitted him in their last fight.
So he submits you in practice, which he used that experience to submit Shogun the first damn time they fought. Dnt throw random facts bout ur life on here thnkn its gunna make people respect ur opinion
lol if uve trained with forrest u wouldnt bad mouth him, unless u got a grudge.. or should we start calling u rashad evans..
oh shut up. were gunna go by what it says on paper now? if u saw the machida/shogun fight and are saying that machida beat him, ur not a true fan of this sport. and he lost to jones but griffin didnt accept the fight that they had given him with jones back in august. and ANYONE in the LHW division could have beaten shogun in his fight with griffin.
I guess Wanderlouie is handing out MMA degrees. Machida beat Shogun. It went to the judges. He got even next time.
Forrest is obviously a fighter you can NEVER write off. If you were a real fan of MMA you would know that. Lol
Just like Nick Diaz could never stand with Daley.
MMA is all about style match ups. There is no real way to say who would win against who because he beat so and so. I personally think Machida could beat jones even though Shogun whooped his ass. In MMA anything can happen. Styles make fights but so do constitutions. There are so many variables.
wow you are ignorant Wander
Forrest looked great in his last fight, demonstarting all aspects of MMA. Like always people are counting him out but i think he can beat Shogun again.
Yeah, I love Shogun but I feel he's on his way to retirement. He just hasn't looked as dominant as he did in Pride.
wow one fight ago everyone was saying hes back and that his pride form has returned and now that he loses once hes on his way to retirement???
hell yeah :)
Shogun will be ready since it is in Rio. Too much pride involved! He just can't loose.
Ah yes, I remember people stating Shogun was finished back in '08. Two years later, he pawns the invincible Machida in under a round.
Man, alot of Shogun fans leave him for dead...
He's fine. Yep, he's bummed and depressed. Who wouldn't be? And yes, he got destroyed for the first time in his career, but does that mean, we as fans, should give up on him and tell him to throw in the towel? No.
He's a legend and a champion. Keep the faith.
Why is he fighting again this year? Probably because he is a FIGHTER dumb@$$!
The only advantage Forrest has in this fight is his wrestling.
Let's be realistic here, Griffin only beat an injuried Shogun that no training camp. And Griffin was still outclassed by Rua in the entire first round.
I'm not saying Griffin is a mediocre fighter but he's not on Shogun's level (skill-wise). Forrest mainly depends on his wrestling and size/power. He clearly displayed that during the bouts with Rampage and Franklin.
Personally, I think Shogun is going to be extremely motivated for this fight and carries out a late TKO.
Well to be honest, I haven't seen the fight in almost 2 years. I simply remember Shogun chopping away at Griffin's legs with kicks and dominating the stand up with combinations. I'll look into tonight and re-watch the bout.
I disgree, I think Griffin's wrestling is a bit underrated. Although... he hasn't exactly helped his own case with the performances he pulled in the Ortiz rematch and Evans championship fight.
Griffin, no doubt has the size and strength advantage but that doesn't always work out. If Shogun actually bothers to defend a takedown, I think Shogun will pick apart Forrest easily. Rua just suffered his first TKO loss in his career thanks to taking the takedown and size advantage lightly. Hell, most of us Rua fans did too. I doubt he'll be making th same mistake again.
well,in griffins first fight with shogun he actually did pretty well in the stand up game using his reach and throwing combinations on the outside
and you brought up the rashad evans fight,
griffin was completely dominating the fight until he got tkod in the third round
only one successful takedown attempt that fight
and for the ortiz fight he did a lot of sweeps and was able to reverse almost all the positions in that fight and that fight should not have even been a split decision
You were probably saying the same thing about Jones. "He has no chance blabla" Jones said something true abt rua and how to defeat him. You have to pressure him and not letting him set his pace like machida did. Griffin can defeat him again even if rua is extremely motivated.
Nope. I picked Rua to win due to his experience and superior striking abilities. Who knows if the fight would have gone differently -- if he'd worked on defending the takedown more. Oh well, what's done is done.
I stated that one of my grave fears going into the fight was Jones' wrestling and vicious ground-and-pound. His size didn't hurt the outcome either. Saying that I didn't give Jones a chance is asinine. I noted that one of Shogun's weaknesses was his takedown defense but one of his strengths came of his back a well.
off*
as*
This is a great fight for shogun to bounce back in the mix. He knows what forest is going to bring which is exactly what the man desperately needs improvement on, wrestling.
As a big Shogun......i beg of him to be in great fighting shape. His last fight was a disappointment, hopefully that loss (and also to avenge his last loss to Griffin) motivates Shogun to be in top condition.
I believe his gas tank was taken from him when he took the knee to the chin and rib cage. He never recovered in time and Jones took advantage.
Shogun>Griffin
This will be good. It will be interesting to see how Rua will bounce back from his loss to Jones.. But then again, we can't count out Griffin as he always finds a way to shut his critics up.
anyone who counts either out is ****ing retarded
either one could take it
i'd love to see the loser fight rashad. cause shogun can ko him, and forrest was owning him in the first few rds. winner should fight jones or fight rampage/phil davis for a title shot
I grew up watching both fight. I love them both as fighters but, I think this one goes to Rua though. Yes, both are 3-2 after they last fought. I think that Griffen is has a little less tread on his tires then Rua does. Yes, I understand what Forest did to him last time but, Rua by TKO.
This is a no contest match-up....Shogun is definitely winning this by TKO!!! Forrest is not a high caliber fighter, he's just another white hype, lol
DOUCHE!
Well, I looked over the first bout frame by frame (an hour of my time), and I was surprsed by what I witnessed -- Shogun took down Griffin with ease a couple of times. Where did this Shogun go??? I do remember someone telling me that Shogun only trained in wrestling prior to the fight with Forrest (which explained why his striking appeared to be a little sloppy).
Nevertheless, in the few exchanges, Rua beat Griffin to the punch mostly. Shogun was able to deflect alot of Griffin's punches until the final exchange (where Forrest caught Rua with a jab and hook).
Shogun isn't explosive as he was in 2003-2005, but when he has a full gas tank and injury free, Mauricio is a scary dude.
Cant wait for this fight. terrific atmosphere, high expectations. this one's gunna be a barn burner.
Ill preface this by saying weak me all you want Forrest Griffin is the most OVERRATED fighter of all time since joining the UFC he has only finished Elvis Sinosic, Bill Haywood,(where are they now) and Shogun(injured or not it happened I cant take it away from him) Ive always believed to become champ you have to CONVINCINGLY beat the champ go watch the rampage fight again leg kicks should never win you a title he beat a small LHW in franklin(using a lowkick fav expression lay and pray) and the always injured past his prime tito wow that makes him top 5 for sure i liked the tuf 1 fight with boner as much as anyone if nothing in my comment makes you a believer he got ko'ed by Keith Jardine
he does seem to get special treatment for making tuf a success, but then again, look at bonnar, still at the bottom getting winlosswinlosswinloss, so maybe tuf isnt why dana licks his balls
Forest is a good wrestler, Shogun isn't and isn't that good off his back so of course he has a shot!
For Forrest's sake I hope he doesn't try to stand with him though...
If shogun wants to win this one then he needs to come in shape. Shape or not in shape he was losing the Jones fight but against Griffin he has an equal chance of winning. He is going to need his cardio very high to deal witht he pace Griffin puts into the last fight, even Franklin had problems with it and he is one of the best conditioned fighters in the sport.
it amazes me how much crap people give forrest. how much more does he have to prove? people say hes overrated, he went 5 rounds with rampage and took his best shots and he didnt get finished, people said he would lose to franklin, he pulled it out and was pretty dominant, forrest has looked good his last 2 fights, and his strikin and progressed alot since he last fought shogun, he may not have shoguns power, but i think he could bang with shogun and jus take to the ground if he gets in trouble, i like shogun as well, this will be a test and see if shogun still has it, but shoguns injuries will probably factor in, i dont think shogun will have the cardio to deal with griffins pace, ive got to pull for forrest, hes been my favorite fighter since the beginning and it wont change