• UFC 134

Shogun Rua admits he'd love to fight in the UK

Mauricio Shogun Rua spent the weekend in London supporting his brother at BAMMA 6, and he told ESPN he would like to fight in front of the UK fans in the future.

Shogun was cornering brother Murilo Ninja Rua for his BAMMA middleweight championship fight on Saturday. Ninja faced tough competitor Tom Watson, suffering a third-round knockout.

Former UFC light-heavyweight champion Shogun will now turn his focus to his UFC 134 clash with Forrest Griffin, a man to whom he lost on his UFC debut. Rua has fought in Brazil, Japan, USA, Ireland and Canada during his fight career, and the 29-year-old confesses he would love to add the UK to his CV in the future.

"I'm very happy to be in London," Shogun told ESPN. "I've been to London many times, my brother has fought for Cage Rage many times and I'm very happy to be in London.

"I hope to fight over here because London has many MMA fans. And the UFC is very popular here in London. It would make me very happy."

Ninja announced his retirement following Saturday's defeat, ending a career that his seen the Brazilian fight Rampage Jackson, Dan Henderson, Kevin Randleman and Paulo Filho. With five wins in his last six going into the Watson loss, momentum was growing for Ninja to join Shogun in the UFC, and prior to the fight manager Eduardo Alonso revealed that was the plan.

"The UFC nowadays is the pinnacle of the sport, everybody wants to be in the UFC," said Alonso. "We have had talks with them about Ninja in the past, but Ninja still had fights to fulfil in his contract with Dream in Japan.

"Now, with the purchase of Strikeforce the UFC has a lot of fighters on their roster, and it has to make sense. Ninja is a guy who has fought so many battles on so many shows, so he needs to go in there valued as a guy the UFC really wants to have.

"We have a great relationship with the UFC and a lot of respect for Lorenzo [Fertitta], Dana [White] and all the guys at the UFC. So it's a natural consequence. First Ninja must get the BAMMA belt, and then once he puts together another two or three good fights it's only bound to happen."

Unfortunately, Ninja failed to secure the BAMMA belt and will now hang up his gloves.

"I would like to announce officially my retirement from pro MMA fights tonight. It was an amazing run, and it's a very tough moment," Rua wrote on Twitter. "But there comes a time for all in life, and it's time to move on. I am proud of all I did in MMA and all experiences I had.

"It was a fantastic road and this is a very trying time. But there comes a time for everything in life, and it's time to move on. I'm proud of everything I've done in MMA and all the experiences I had in this profession that I embraced with love.

"I'll keep working on MMA giving seminars, lectures, training athletes, and doing my part to help our sport that I love so much. Now it's time to help others, and enjoy my family, my wife, my children and move on."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.