"[Mauricio "Shogun" Rua is] super professional ... He’s away from Curitiba (Shogun’s home town) and it’s good for him to get more concentrated. He’s on the right way, but [it is] still far from the fight, still has four weeks. He’ll get to the top now. I don’t know about Chuck, how is his preparation, but I think Shogun is very talented and, well trained, is hard to be beat.... I don’t think that the fight with Coleman was bad. It was a very intense fight, maybe he got tired more, but I think he fought well. He got tired, that’s normal. People forget that Coleman fought with Fedor few time ago and did a great fight, he is very tough… It’s not because he’s 45 that that you have to go there and kill him."
-- In an interview with Tatame.com undefeated middleweight contender Demian Maia talks about helping Mauricio "Shogun" Rua prepare for his upcoming 205-pound battle against former division champion Chuck Liddell at UFC 97: "Redemption" on April 18. Maia is perhaps the best Brazilian jiu-jitsu specialist currently on UFC roster, winning all five of his fights inside the Octagon with insane submissions. He makes it look so easy. Might he be showing "Shogun" a thing or two to surprise the "Iceman" on fight night with a ground attack? We will see soon enough.
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