Mixed martial arts journeyman Murilo “Ninja” Rua’s career has been nothing short of eventful.
Based off a release sent to me by my colleague Phil Lanides, the former Pride standout, and elder sibling to Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, is set to return to action this Spring. Rua’s opponent will be Hawaiian native Falaniko Vitale and the bout will be under the banner of Shine Fights III.
No date for the bout has been set.
With eighteen wins to his credit and ten losses, the Brazilian has obviously been on the winning side of a majority of his bouts. However, after ten years of competing and with his recent inconsistencies, is Rua fighting for relevancy?
Up until this point, Rua’s career has included a handful of exciting fights that will go down as some of the best the sport has ever witnessed.
Win or lose, Ninja has personally made sure that no one in the vicinity of the cage or ring is left with a feeling of being unimpressed with poor performances.
Having fought some of the toughest and most well-rounded fighters in the world, Rua reeled off a seven-fight unbeaten streak before experiencing his first loss to Dan Henderson via split decision.
Instead of a bitter defeat, the Henderson fight could have been tallied as a great learning experience, since at the time Ninja was only 21 years old.
This, however, was not the case.
Over the next eleven fights, Rua went a dismal (5-6) and was on the losing end to some of the sport’s best ligh heavyweights at the time. Not all his fights were a testament of his record.
One fight that stands out during this slump is Ninja’s battle with former UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson at “Pride 29: Fists of Fire.”
Though Rua lost the fight by split decision, the Chute Boxe trained fighter stood with Jackson and traded shots with the former UFC champ for three rounds, refusing to stand down at any point.
The judges in Japan forwarded their decisions to the announcer. To the surprise of nearly everyone in attendance, including play-by-play announcers Mauro Renallo and Bas Rutten, Jackson was considered the victor.
Judging by the amount of control and strikes Rua had over Jackson, the loss could have easily been considered a win for Rua.
Following that fight, Rua lost to Paulo Filho and Denis Kang and then left Pride for Cage Rage before settling in the now defunct EliteXC.
The move to EliteXC was during a camp transition where Rua left the famed Chute Boxe academy. With his brother, Shogun, and teammate Andre “Dida” Amade, the trio formed a new team called Universidade da Luta (Fight University).
With a new gym and renewed focus, a ray of hope shined on Rua as he was able to defeat Joey Villasenor for the EliteXC middleweight title. This would be the first and only championship held by Rua. His reign did not last long, as he was defeated in embarrassing fashion by Robbie Lawler in his next fight.
Since his “one and done” era as champion, Rua has gone (4-2) and even returned to fighting at 205 lbs.
The transition from Pride to EliteXC and now a show with Shine Fights speaks volumes about the level of competition Rua is able to compete with.
With recent losses to Benji Radach and Riki Fukuda, it is sad to see such a phenomenal talent go from top contender to mid level fighter. The hope is that Ninja will rediscover his stride at light heavyweight and one day be considered in the top ten of his weight class.
The bout with Vitale give Ninja a chance to continue his win streak and turn doubters into believers that look at him as a definitive threat in mixed martial arts.
It’s been a long decade for Rua, but the next one can start out on a high note if he can beat Vitale this spring.
