2020 has seen some of the biggest disappointments in the history of humanity. On a smaller scale, those same sad principles have been applied to the MMA world. Some of the UFC’s biggest legends seem to be a shell of themselves and hanging on by a thread of their career. Recently, UFC President Dana White said that Anderson Silva will not be competing in the UFC anymore. Now, Dana is also encouraging Shogun Rua to retire as well.
Last night, Shogun faced Paul Craig in a rematch. During their first encounter, both men fought an extremely close fight which ultimately ended up resulting in a draw. However, during the rematch, Craig was able to easily dismantle Rua. Craig was able to get his revenge by way of a TKO victory in the second round.
Dana White Wants Shogun to Retire
Dana White spoke about the performance during the post-fight press conference. During the conversation, he urged Shogun to retire from the sport after witnessing the poor performance.
“I hope that tonight is his last night – I would like to see him retire,” White told reporters at the UFC 255 post-fight news conference. “Just being honest: ‘Shogun’ didn’t look like ‘Shogun’ to me tonight. ‘Shogun’ looked old and like a shell of his former self tonight. So yeah, I’d like to see him hang it up, hopefully.”
On the Decline
Shogun Rua is currently 38 years old. However, in just 3 days, he’ll turn 39. While Shogun isn’t on a losing streak, Dana was able to observe the performance and compare it to all of Shogun’s performances over the last 18 years.
Rua tapped to strikes, raising concern to the White and the promotion. While the UFC seems to want Shogun to retire, the decision to keep fighting is ultimately up to Shogun.
Even if the UFC plans on never booking Shogun again, there are other promotions that would use his name on a marquee to generate some income.
