Together with the announcement last month of Mauricio»Shogun» Rua’s powerful shoulder surgery, the Brazilian superstar has continued his legacy of becoming a mixed martial arts (MMA) medical marvel. It is beyond obvious that Shogun is injury prone. But with the total amount of punishment he has received, many might consider it amazing that’s he is not just still alive to talk about it but continues fighting professionally in the highest level on the greatest stage to this day. Throughout Shogun’s storied 30+ struggle MMA career, he’s confronted countless setbacks via the much-maligned MMA Injury Bug. IMG_1702
Image created by Shayne Smith
Is the shoulder surgery the result of the essential maintainance when it is comes to battling, or of a washed up fighter? It’s obviously more than just another minor setback to his legendary career, since it is serious enough that won’t see him contend until early 2016. At just 33 years old, it looks like a normal procedure on the surface. However, to many fans, this is just one more reason to make a statement that Shogun’s best days as a fighter are obviously behind him. Maybe even that he should retire. The toughest issue concerning the Shogun situation is that he’s not even that old, but struggle years are a very different story. IMG_1693 Many pundits accredit the overwhelming accumulation of damage to a combination of both his times sparring with the mythical Chute Boxe Academy and into the grueling losses he has gathered inside the Octagon. There is not any doubt the Shogun’s time as a professional mixed Martial Artist has taken it’s toll on him . It was seen exactly what the price have been in association with winning those four UFC»Fight of the Night» performance bonuses. Can they blame for why many think Shogun is well beyond his prime? This report gives a brief medial synopsis of the injuries the former UFC light heavyweight champion has accrued through his times as an expert fighter to further illustrate the determining as to if a fighter is potentially past his prime, and also to prove that a fighter being close retirement is not entirely dependant on age demographics. Shogun’s knees alone have faced more wear and tear compared to almost any fighter currently on the UFC roster with the exception of Dominick Cruz. The Brazilian first injured his anterior cruciate ligament training for his struggle with Forrest Griffin in UFC 76. Trying to fight with injury, he pulled out the fascia completely during the ensuing battle. The injury required surgery to fix and hundreds of hours of rehab. Upon rehabbing the helpless leg for many months, he returned to instruction and sadly completely blew out his ACL. Another surgery and rehabilitation regimen kept him on the sidelines before his UFC 93 bout with Mark Coleman which was almost a year and a half after the struggle with Griffin. While training for a rematch from Lyoto Machida, he once again injured his knee but against physicians orders, he proceeded to fight . Despite winning in convincing fashion, the cause foIMG_1695r celebration was curtailed by Rua’s need for immediate surgery. As a result it might be just over 10 months afterwards before enthusiasts would see him create his Octagon reunite against Jon Jones. It was a struggle that not only finished his title reign in devastating fashion but one in which the fighter looked to be a shell of his former self for the first time. To put it simply, his knee imploded. And then it happened again. And then it occurred once more for good measure. The surgical repair count required to repair his knees immediately required three big surgeries in less than three years. However it has to be noted that history had shown us MMA fans that Shogun can’t blame those harms alone for hindering his dreams of becoming a UFC champion. Despite being plagued by the injury bug for a second time, Shogun went on to be UFC champion, however brief the name reign was. Regrettably, it’s doubtful this time about that Shogun will recover his glory times of times past. As fans, we all hope he gets beyond these latest injury woes to become a contender once again. However as handicappers we have to take this as another sign he is not capable of competing with the division’s elite.
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