Mauricio "Shogun" Rua's manager says he's targeting August return; could bring him to Brazil at UFC Rio

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Mauricio "Shogun" Rua is on the mend following the beating he took at the hands of Jon Jones at UFC 128 last month, but according to his manager Eduardo Alonso, Shogun is targeting a return this summer, and it could come in his home country of Brazil.

Jones defeated "Shogun" by TKO in the third round of their title bout in New Jersey to capture the Light Heavyweight Championship. Jones handled "Shogun" throughout the fight, but though he endured until the third round, the fight turned with one of the first strikes thrown in the first round.

"Some seconds into the bout, Jones connected with a flying knee to his jaw," Alonso explained in an interview with FightHype.com. "This couldn't be seen on the TV broadcast angle, but from the corner, we could see the knee hitting right on the jaw and heard the noise. Right there, it felt strange. Still, we hoped Shogun could pull something off as he is that talented. It was Jones' night though, so props to him."

"We are already talking to the UFC about his next fight. They are really very supportive of us and after the bout, Dana came into the locker room to show support and said he felt rhythm was important for Shogun, so whenever I was ready, I should call him cause they wanted him to fight soon again. I agree with him, and we hope to have Shogun back around August."

Despite the loss and the beating he did take in the fight, Alonso says "Shogun" wasn't hurt badly at all, and is already back to training.

"A lot of people sent me messages asking if Shogun got hurt, but thankfully Mauricio didn't get hurt at all," Alonso said. "After the fight, I took him to the hospital for exams and all was fine. He just had some swelling around his eyes and nothing else. He is training lightly again already."

Link to full interview

Penick's Analysis: If you go back and watch the Jones-Shogun fight, you can see Jones' flying knee connect, and Shogun was never the same in that fight. It could have been a major factor in the remaining minutes of that fight that he was simply not able to recover from, but regardless, Jones walked out the Champ. Shogun should still be able to return strong, and it will be important for him to keep busy and get back to action as much as possible. I'm sure his fans in Brazil would love to see him on that card in Rio at the end of August, and him against any light heavyweight would make for an exciting fight on that card. If Forrest Griffin is healed up, that's a rematch I'd love to see.

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