Injured Mauricio Rua’s shell of his former self ‘at UFC 255

UFC 255 pay-per-view was somewhat discouraging on Saturday night when Paul Craig knocked down Mauricio Rua, put him on the mat and then laid him on the ground, beating Rua until he was forced to. Watching the “shogun” tap for strikes is a huge task. We are 15 years away from Prime Rua, which was hit by Pride in 2005.

But should he retire?

Surprisingly, UFC President Dana White thinks so.

“I believe tonight is his last night,” White said UFC 255 Post-Fight Press Conference. “I want to see him retire.[Craig] Nice and not to take anything from him, he came and did what he had to do tonight but to be honest, the shogun did not look like a shogun to me tonight. ”

“Shogun looks old and looks like his former self-shell tonight. Yeah, I want to see him hang on to it hopefully. … I think he’s left two fights in his contract. But yeah, he wants to see retirement.”

It is interesting to note that White prefers to push his combat fighters into retirement without releasing them from their contracts. Although the UFC president can see this for his aging stars, there will definitely be some disturbing power imbalance in the game when the person you have the exclusive right to fight decides that you are no longer going to compete.

Who knows, maybe the “Shogun” will stay overnight. After the fight, Mauricio revealed on social media that he had sustained a serious injury to his elbow during the first withdrawal of the fight, so he worked so hard to manage Craig on the field. Check out the second picture in his Instagram post to see how confusing this is.

“Unfortunately it didn’t go out the way I did last night, and it was a part of our sport,” Rua wrote. I rolled my elbow when I was first removed, but it was no need, because it was part of the fight and it took no qualifications from my opponent. Athletes ’careers are not only with glory and thank God, because of so many sacrifices and hard work, I have already been blessed many times with the rewards of success, only those who live our daily lives really know what we are doing. ”

So what are Rua’s thoughts on retirement?

“I am grateful for the wonderful support I have received from you as always,” he wrote. “I’m already blessed to be able to do this for 18 years, here is the great inspiration you can take with me in 2020, and it’s what keeps me going so far. Now I’m going to relax with my family and think about my career. I know my goal in this sport is beyond the octagon. Thank you guys. ”

Maniacs, do you feel like someone who fought you?