Rebuilding Rua

By Thomas Gerbasi

Nearly 16 months, 483 days, 11,592 hours, and 695,520 minutes will have passed by the time Mauricio "Shogun" Rua steps back into the Octagon to face Mark Coleman this Saturday night at the O2 Dublin. In those terms alone, it's been a long time for a man considered to be one of the best 205-pound fighters on the planet. For Rua, the wait feels even longer.

"It was very tough, of course," Rua told UFC.com through translator / manager Eduardo Alonso. "Having to do two surgeries in a row is terrible for your morale. I think the worst part was when I tore my knee ligament while training for Chuck Liddell after the first surgery. That was a scary moment and brought a lot of frustration."

Rua, who first injured his left knee before his UFC debut (and loss) against Forrest Griffin in September of 2007, first underwent surgery for the ACL in October of that year. After rehabbing the injury, a June 2008 fight with Liddell was scheduled for London, but in March, he ruptured the ACL again, forcing him to go under the knife again. Add in the dislocated elbow he suffered in his first fight against Coleman in 2006, and it was clear that Rua's toughest opponent in his six year career has been his own body. But thoughts of being forced into an early retirement were tossed away by the 27-year old.

"Well, injuries are never good, and it always brings some fears, but I trust in God, in my doctors and in myself, so I always only thought about doing what I had to do to comeback," said Rua, who jumped right back into the gym as soon as he got the green light from his physician.

"I think what I missed the most was my routine, training in the academy everyday, doing what I always did," he said. "Now my knee is great. Everything was done right since the surgery, and the recovery was very well guided. I even went to Canada for a month to do a special treatment with some doctors over there, and took time to work a lot with weights to strengthen the muscles around the knee. My knee is as good as new."

And having made it through an arduous training camp in his new gym in Curitiba, Brazil - UDL (Universidade da Luta - or "Fight University"), it's clear that if something wasn't right, it would have broken, split, or been torn already, given the team Rua has been working with.

"I have trained very hard with my team, UDL, and my trainers, Cristiano Carioca, Danilo Dourado, Fernando Falkenbach, and all my training partners, like my brother Murilo Ninja, Joao Paulo Tuba, Fernando Vieira, Imerson, and Saulo. Too many to list them all. We worked very hard and took this fight very seriously, so I want to show a good fight for all in Ireland and watching on TV."

If getting back into the crowded 205-pound title picture isn't enough motivation for Rua, the 2005 PRIDE Grand Prix champion, he also has the added incentive of beating the last man to best him in the Japanese organization in Coleman, a UFC Hall of Famer who is on a comeback trail of his own after a two year layoff.

Their first fight in February of 2006 ended in 49 seconds when Rua dislocated his elbow bracing himself on the mat as Coleman hit a takedown. What ensued after the stoppage was what really got the buzz going, as both camps got into it physically in the ring, and verbally afterwards. And while there's unfinished business in Rua's eyes, it's not personal.

"Believe me or not, I don't hold bad feelings about him," said Rua of Coleman. "We spoke some time after that and cleared terms. However, what I think the most about the first fight is that it wasn't really finished, so we have to really settle this and fight fair and square to see who's the best. That's something I've wanted since that first fight."

Of course, a lot has changed since that the first fight - not the least of which are three surgeries for Rua and three more years for the now 44-year old Coleman. Does that change the fight night dynamics at all for Rua'

"I don't really think about that," he said. "He is a great fighter, very experienced, and we have both been sidelined. Who knows (what will happen)' All I know is that I have to be prepared, and I hope he is prepared as well."

And Rua is preparing for a prime Mark Coleman.

"You always have to prepare for the best possible Mark Coleman," he said. "If you're ready to face him at his peak, then you can face him in any situation. I don't count on him coming out of shape or something like that. I expect him to come to war, and me and my team presume what his options are, so we have to impose our gameplan and make him make a mistake."

One mistake is all it takes in this game, and if Coleman makes it and Rua capitalizes on it, Saturday's fight may very well provide "Shogun" with his first victory since his 2007 knockout of Alistair Overeem. Then things get even more interesting in a division packed with MMA superstars.

"I think the division has many good fighters," said Rua. "Lyoto Machida, Thiago Silva, (Luiz) Cane, Chuck Liddell, Wanderlei (Silva), Quinton (Jackson), Rashad (Evans), Forrest (Griffin), (Brandon) Vera and many others, so anything can change on any given day. I trust my skills and my team, so we'll work hard to see where I fit."

The natural fights for Rua would be a revisiting of the aborted Liddell bout, or rematches with the last man to beat him, Griffin, or with a man he knocked out in PRIDE, Jackson. Was he disappointed with Griffin's recent loss to Rashad Evans, which took some of the shine off a possible championship rematch'

"I didn't get disappointed," said Rua. "They are both great fighters, and in a fight like that anything can happen. I think the 205-pound division is stacked with talent, and Forrest was doing well but Rashad was waiting for an opportunity, and when he got his opportunity he took advantage of it - that's the dynamics of MMA fighting. As for Rashad, he is a great fighter and if we get to fight one day, we'll see."

Just the fact that we're speculating about the future of Rua in 2009 is an accomplishment in itself given all he's been through. But make no mistake about it, "Shogun" is back and ready to fight. That's good enough for him. He'll leave the matchmaking to the UFC.

"They do a great job, and I have to do mine, which is train hard, do great fights and win them," said Rua. "Right now I have to think one fight at a time, so let's fight this one first."

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