MANILA, Philippines – Enjoy this light heavyweight fight between Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and Ovince Saint Preux in UFC 274 on Sunday, May 8.
Savor it.
This will be the second to the last fight of the legendary Rua (27-12-1; 10-10-1 in the UFC), a former Pride Middleweight Grand Prix champion and ex-UFC light heavyweight titlist.
“I put it in my mind to fight twice more and then retire,” the 40-year-old Rua revealed in an exclusive interview with Philstar.com. This is the first time the fighter has openly said this anywhere.”
And this 2022 is his 20th year in mixed martial arts competition.
“A long time,” he succinctly noted. “I will do my best to win and retire with the knowledge that I gave it my all and should I win, this will be the best way to end my career.”
The Brazilian fighter has not fought inside the Octagon since a November 2020 loss to Paul Craig. “My last fight I hurt my arm and elbow (which got dislocated). It took a long while to recover and do physical therapy. It didn’t recover too fast so I was on the sidelines recovering,” Rua explained of his layoff. “I only wanted to fight when it had sufficiently healed and I felt good.”
The bout with Saint Preux (25-16; 13) at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona is not only his penultimate fight, but also a “revenge” bout with the Haitian-American fighter.
When the two last fought on November 8, 2016 in a UFC headline event in Uberlandia, Brazil, Saint Preux took advantage of a slip by Rua to finish him off in the first round.
“Ovince won his first fight on his merits,” admitted Rua. “I do not want to take anything away from his victory. But the result still motivates me to get revenge if it is the correct word. I am excited to have this fight again.”
“I know he (Ovince) is a dangerous fighter and he beat me once so I have this respect for him. I am focused on this fight and this is all that matters. I am motivated.”
Rua’s career is pockmarked with second or even third meetings with fighters. He’s had titanic return bouts with the likes of Alistair Overeem (2-0), Lyoto Machida (1-1), Mark Coleman (1-1), Forrest Griffin (1-1), Dan Henderson (0-2), Antonio Nogueira (3-0), Paul Craig (0-1-1) and now, Saint Preux.
The Brazilian believes these opportunities to fight his opponents for a second or even a third time settles scores or even allows him a chance to even the score.
Both Rua and Saint Preux, who are getting in on the years, are coming off losses. While a win may not vault them into the Top 15 rankings of the Light Heavyweight Division, it does afford them the opportunity to fight in the twilight of their career. They just hope they can write the script the way they want it to be.
UFC 274 will be televised at 9 a.m. Sunday (Manila time) on the Premier Sports Channel on Sky Cable and Cignal as well as the TapGo streaming application.