Dana White may have let slip that Mauricio "Shogun" Rua has retired.
During a live stream on ESPN+, Dana White appears to have announced that Mauricio Rua has retired. White has spoken about his desire to see "Shogun" retire as recently as the post-UFC 255 press conference when he said the following.
I don’t know if it was a slip up, but Dana White just indicated Shogun Rua is retired on the ESPN+ livestream Q&A #UFCFightIsland
— Nolan King (@mma_kings) January 6, 2021
Rua's longtime manager, Eduardo Alonso, denied the retirement claims in a statement to ESPN's Ariel Helwani.
Contrary to some recent tweets, Shogun Rua has not retired.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) January 6, 2021
Here is a statement from his long-time manager @eduardo_alonso, with some added insight on his future: pic.twitter.com/pyFoHeugn1
“I hope that tonight is his last night – I would like to see him retire,” White said (h/t Middleeasy) after UFC 255. “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.”
Rua, 39, has been fighting professionally since 2002. The UFC light heavyweight and PRIDE Middleweight Grand Prix champion is coming off a second-round TKO loss to Paul Craig. He is 2-2-1 in his last five fights.
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