Mauricio "Shogun" Rua will undergo surgery to repair a knee injury that the Brazilian sustained prior to his submission loss to Forrest Griffin at UFC 76: "Knockout" in his Octagon debut on September 22, according to an article in Gazeta Do Povo.
Here's a poorly translated snip from Shogun:
"I go to operate this knee in sixth and must be without training for next the three months. For what I talked with the Rudimar master (Fedrigo), I only come back to fight in January or February."
Considering that most top-level fighters compete on average every three to four months this news is not that bad. It also doesn't sound too serious if he expect to return to action in about 90 days.
However, a fight with former light heavyweight Chuck Liddell in December now seems out of the question (and that's good if you ask me ... bring on Wanderlei Silva once and for all).
Perhaps what stings a bit more is the dissapointing loss of the highly-touted star, who is considered among many as the best 205-pound mixed martial artist on the planet.
In fact, Shogun calls it the "worst defeat of his career." That's because he really only had one loss on his record up to that point to Renato "Babalu" Sobral, which happened early in his career. The loss to Mark Coleman (a bout in which Shogun suffered a freak arm injury) doesn't count.
Shogun will be back without question. And he will more than likely score his first victory under the UFC banner upon his return.
He's that good.
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