Mauricio Rua (Pictures) won't stop. As the Brazilian sits on the sidelines eagerly awaiting a return to the ring -- or a debut in the cage -- the young light heavyweight keeps training hard. During a break from training "Shogun," the 2005 PRIDE Middleweight Grand Prix champion, spoke to Sherdog.com.
I wish I could fight at UFC 72, but it didn't happen. I'm training a lot and I hope to get back soon. I'm waiting, but nothing is for sure yet. I'm ready to rumble.
The training is great. I think I never trained as hard as I'm doing now. I'm ready to fight anytime.
I'll face anyone. I'm a MMA employee. Whomever they say, I'll fight. I never choose my opponents. I faced the better ones in my weight class, so I'm able to fight anyone. But another fight against "Babalu" would be a tasty rematch to me. I would love it.
He is a very good athlete. He kicks very well and has good judo skills. He defeated two top fighters -- "Minotoro" and
Ricardo Arona (Pictures) -- but if they offer him to me, I'll take it. I fight anyone.
For sure. My goal is to get this title, because it doesn't belong to Wanderlei anymore. I hope to get this chance, because I'm fighting at this weight class for a long time, and, thank God, I'm beating everybody. I think my title shot time has come.
Dan Henderson (Pictures) is an excellent athlete. He is very professional, and I respect him a lot. But as a champion he is now, my goal is to face him. I'm sure I can fight well.
I'm a huge fan of Wanderlei, not only in the ring but also as a person. If he said that, so he wants me to be the champion, and I'll give my best to repay his affection to me.
For sure. This is a motivation and a big challenge. This is my goal now, because I want this title. Like I always fought for my dreams, I'll fight for this.
We are confused about it, because we don't know what is actually happening. I hope things get solved soon, because the athletes will have all the benefits with this fusion. This is a motivation for us to train more. And these changes are all welcome, because MMA in American is growing really fast, and it will spread all over the world, because everything that they do there, the rest of the world wants to do the same. If it happens there, will happen all around the world.
Fedor is for sure the number one among the heavyweights. I would fight him. He is the heavier and more experienced guy, so he would feel the pressure to win, and I would fight very calm. I think I'm ready to face him, yes, because every time I fight, I overcome myself. Experience is everything.
The seminars were awesome. I think there was something about 30 students there. It was great because MMA is not very known in Europe, but the audience there welcome us very well. We have a lot of fans there, and I hope to back there again soon.
I'll start my participation at July. This is a new way, I'm excited about it, and let us see the result. My character will be Philipe. I will be the bad guy, the villain (laughs). The movie will tell the history of a guy who was model, and started to fight, things ran well and he became the champion. It's all I know.
I want to thanks to everybody who's supporting us. I want to say that when I fight, I feel support coming from the crowd, and this is awesome. Every time I fight I try to give my best to give a very good show to the fans, to return the affection that they show for me.