Shogun signs 4 Fight contract with PrideFC

Robert_Lake · 03-23-2007

From MMAweekly.com

MMAWeekly has received word from our Brazilian connection, Denis Martins, that his contacts at Chute Boxe are telling him that Mauricio “Shogun” Rua has signed a new four-fight contract with Pride Fighting Championships.

There has been some speculation that the new contract is structured as two fights for Pride FC and two fights for the Ultimate Fighting Championship. That appears to be information that may have been jumbled because of the recent swirl of controversy surrounding the possible sale of Pride FC to Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta, whose company Zuffa LLC owns the UFC.

Shogun’s new contract is with Pride FC, but if the company is indeed going to change hands (especially with everything pointing in that direction lately), it is likely that his new contract was structured so that it would be part of the Pride sale, and thus we could eventually see Shogun in the UFC. But until an actual sale does take place, Shogun is a Pride fighter.

The 25-year-old Shogun is currently the world's #2 Light Heavyweight in the MMAWeekly Rankings. Shogun won Pride's 205-pound Grand Prix in 2005 by defeating Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Alistair Overeem, and Ricardo Arona.

MATT E · 03-24-2007

Im very excited to hear this, weather he fights in the pride or the ufc he will retain a belt because i beleive hes the future of mma, hes only 25 and IMO hes soon to be the LHW champion in pride and with the looks of it his next fight will be against Henderson for belt. Within another year or two i beleive he will be almost unbeatable. His resume of fighters hes beat consists of a whos who list that not many people can claim they have. Wether hes in the pride or ufc he will be a champion what its his time.

daywealldie · 03-25-2007

im stoked. with all this news about pride sellin down the crapper its good to hear pridefc will keep one of their most promising fighters. i also think shogun could easily be the next reigning champion. his shot is definetely deserved, and whether he fought chuck in ufc or hendo in pride i think he could be champ. maybe along the road a fight i would love to see is the "future" mw champ shogun vs the reigning hw champ fedor. anyone else?

Robert_Lake · 03-25-2007

I would love to see that fight, but i think shogun would lose. Fedor just is a little bit better at almost every aspect of fighting. Is deffinetly one of those fantasy fights id love to see.

MATT E · 03-25-2007

Fedor is a little better in every aspect but think about what talent shogun will posess with 5 more years under his blet, he will be virtually unbeatable.

daywealldie · 04-03-2007

definetely within 4-5 years shogun will have what it takes to take fedor. at 25 his fight resume is quite impressive

The Hitman · 06-05-2007

wont be too long before he fights Rampage in the UFc again for the belt i can only see him going towrads the big showcase.

MuayThai4Life · 06-06-2007

I love what the UFC is doing for their weaker divisions. Look at how stacked the LHW division is now, Henderson/Rampage/Liddell/Shogun/Tito/Rashad/Machida/Bisping (Maybe)

The HW division as well. But yeah, no doubt Shogun will be the next LHW Champion.

MATT E · 06-06-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by MuayThai4Life

I love what the UFC is doing for their weaker divisions. Look at how stacked the LHW division is now, Henderson/Rampage/Liddell/Shogun/Tito/Rashad/Machida/Bisping (Maybe)

The HW division as well. But yeah, no doubt Shogun will be the next LHW Champion.

I like what they're doing but there taking Prides strongest divsion and turning it into shit which pisses me off a lot. If shogun goes it will be terrible, hes made his home in pride and i would want him to get the pride belt since silva is not the champion but he cant now because Hendo is in the ufc. And fighting rampage, who shogun walked over in inpressive fashion, fighters like shogun, arona, rodrigo nogeuira, wanderlei, should all stay in pride, if they want to improve the UFCs LHW division they should add fighters like Sokodoju, overeem, and nakumura, leave pride alone.

daywealldie · 06-06-2007

i agree with what u said 100%. the less known fighters who still come out 10 times harder than alota the guys from TUF. like u said overeem, nakamura, also hansen, diabate, aleksander E. just to name a few would have been awesome additions to the UFC that would have definetely cost less and built up the divisions a whole lot. (not to mention take away one of Pride's most stacked divisions)