Fighting against Anderson Silva after TUF Brazil 4 was never something Mauricio “Shogun” Rua desired, but he said that he would accept the bout if this was the UFC’s wish. Interviewed by Combate.com, the former UFC Light Heavyweight champion also praised “The Spider”, stating that his former Chute Boxe training partner is a “living legend”.
“The UFC called Eduardo (Alonso, Shogun’s manager) giving him the news that Anderson and I were going to be the TUF coaches and that we weren’t going to fight each other. But I’m really happy about taking part of TUF, even further because of Anderson, a living legend. Fighting against him wasn’t something that I wanted. We trained together. But I would accept if the UFC asked.”
Before the TUF recording begin, both of the future coaches have fights to do. Shogun will face Ovince Saint Preux this Saturday at the main event of UFC Fight Night: Shogun vs. Saint Preux. Later, on January 31 of 2015, Anderson will fight Nick Diaz at the main event of UFC 183.
Previously, at least two times Shogun said that he was open to fight against Anderson, once in 2010 and the other in 2012. “The Spider” always said that it would never happen but he said the same about not fighting Ronaldo Jacare Souza and Lyoto Machida and changed his mind months later.
P.S.: Just a funny thought about Shogun being a TUF coach. As a Brazilian, I’m a huge Shogun fan but his diction is horrible and he even jokes about it saying that he and his brother Murilo Rua speak the dialect “Ruanes”. Some of his interviews in Portuguese I only understand because of the English subtitles, so maybe it’s going to be easier for me watching on Fight Pass and not on Globo.