Mauricio Rua

Mauricio Rua, also known as “Shogun”, is a Brazilian mixed martial artist who competes in the UFC’s light heavyweight division. He currently holds the record for most knockouts in UFC light heavyweight history and has won multiple titles during his career.

Rua began his martial arts training at the age of 11 when he joined a local judo school in Curitiba, Brazil. After years of hard work and dedication he decided to switch from judo to Muay Thai in 2000 and eventually became world class at it by 2002. After competing successfully on the worldwide Muay Thai circuit, Rua made his professional mixed martial arts debut in 2003. During this time he compiled an impressive record with wins over notable opponents such as Alistair Overeem and Ricardo Arona which earned him a spot on Pride Fighting Championship’s roster where he went on to become its first Middleweight Champion by defeating Quinton Jackson via knockout at PRIDE Final Conflict 2005. From there Rua continued to build upon his success by becoming one of the most successful MMA fighters ever as well as being called “the greatest fighter of all time” by Pride commentator Bas Rutten due to his vicious ground-and-pound style coupled with powerful strikes that have ended many fights quickly through knockout or submission victories.

From 2006–2008, after leaving Pride FC for health reasons, Mauricio competed primarily in Japan’s Sengoku MMA promotion before returning back home to Brazil where he fought under both Jungle Fight promotions and Shine Fights banners until 2010 when he was signed by UFC President Dana White due to his performance against Chuck Liddell at UFC 97 which earned him ‘Fight of The Night’ honors despite ending up losing via unanimous decision against “The Iceman” himself . Since then Shogun has gone 4–4 inside the octagon but remains one of its fan favorites due largely in part to how entertaining each fight is whenever they turn out towards either man’s favor or not; earning numerous Fight Of The Night bonuses throughout this tenure while still managing yet another title shot against current Light Heavyweight champion Jon Jones back at UFC 128: Shogun vs Jones event way back 2011 – unfortunately though resulting into another loss for Mauricio via technical submission (standing guillotine choke) within round 3 marking yet another defeat towards making history that night; however despite this loss it doesn’t take away from what Shogun accomplished during these last 10+ year going from unknown amateur grappler all those ago till now being considered one if not THE best light heavyweights ever!

In addition outside fighting you can find Maurício involved mostly with fitness related activities such as running/jogging marathons & Triathlons while helping students around different parts of Brazil overcome physical/mental issues through martial arts/MMA instruction alongside other athlete friends like Wanderlei Silva & Anderson Silva – continuing prove why people consider him both an amazing role model & elite fighter!