Mauricio "Shogun" Rua explains turning down Glover Teixeira, refutes UFC President Dana White's tale of events

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

"They asked me to fight Glover, my manager told me and then I talked to my team and we decided not to fight Glover because he's a top guy but, but he's building a career in the UFC. He fought once and it was on an undercard, so it's not fair. I made it clear that it wasn't interesting for us now. But in a while it may happen, but not now... If I defeated him I wouldn't reach a level of having a chance at the title. He's a top guy, but he just got here and doesn't have a history in the UFC. Three, four fights from now it's possible, but not now. Dana White commented I rather leave UFC than fighting him but it was not true. UFC never thought about it neither did I. At any point I said I would leave in case I fought him. I just said it was not interesting right now and that's why we had our agreement. This conversation never happened."

-Mauricio "Shogun" Rua talks to Tatame.com about the saga regarding a bout with Glover Teixeira, and refutes UFC President Dana White's statement that he said he'd rather be cut than fight Teixeira.

Penick's Analysis: It's wholly possible that White was told one thing by someone representing Shogun, but that those words never left Shogun's mouth. It's also wholly possible that White was being less than truthful about the exchange. Regardless, it's been a messy little public spat back and forth, with the only result being Rua in a fight against Brandon Vera. Shogun's reasonings for not wanting the fight with Teixeira have been clear before he said them, and more than sensible. Teixeira's not on that level of recognition that makes a dangerous fight like that a winning proposition for Shogun, so it's not a fight he was necessarily obligated to take. Teixeira may likely be on that level in short order, but Rua wasn't going to let that be at his expense.

[Mauricio "Shogun" Rua art by Grant Gould (c) MMATorch.com]

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_13617.shtml

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