MMA

Rua began training martial arts with Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu at the age of six and Muay Thai at seven, at which he became 10-0. He was very successful in BJJ championships at the Blue and Purple belt level. Rua followed his older brother's footsteps after Murilo started training in Muay Thai with the Chute Boxe Academy. In addition to Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, he also currently trains in wrestling and western boxing. Rua started his career at the Meca World Vale Tudo event in Brazil. On his debut, Rua fought Rafael Capoeira, knocking him out with a head kick in the first round. At Meca World Vale Tudo 9, Shogun fought and beat now former teammate Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos. The fight was very fast paced as "Cyborg" was matching Rua on the feet. This resulted in Rua taking Santos out of his game by taking the fight to the ground where he would eventually stop him after raining down punches from mount.Rua's first loss came at the hands of Renato "Babalu" Sobral during the IFC tournament "Global Domination" on September 6, 2003 by submission (guillotine choke). Though the fight was very even, Rua was caught in a guillotine in the third round. "Babalu" had to fight for nearly two minutes in order to adjust the guillotine and get "Shogun" to tap out. Earlier that night, "Shogun" showed great ground skills escaping submission after submission attempt from Eric Wanderlei. Early in the second round, Rua knocked Wanderlei out with punches to the face. Rua exhibited a great ground game in his early fights in PRIDE, but defeated his first five opponents in the first rounds with punches, stomps, and soccer kicks. After winning his first 8 fights in PRIDE, he finally was TKO by Mark Coleman after dislocating his elbow. He came back to PRIDE with a vengeance though and won his next four fights in a row before PRIDE decide to close their doors. His first fight in the UFC was against Forrest Griffin to see who would fight Rampage for the title. He lost by submission, in what many called a huge upset. After his fight with Griffin, Shogun suffered a ruptured ACL during training and has not been able to step back into the ring. He is scheduled to fight Mark Coleman at UFC 93, where he will try to avenge a loss from earlier on in his career. Notable Wins: Quinton �Rampage� Jackson, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Ricardo Arona, Kevin Randleman