Almost eight years after their first bout, ‘Shogun’ and Saint Preux will meet in the Octagon once again.
First reported by AG Fight, Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua and Ovince Saint Preux will run it back at UFC 274 on May 7. Currently scheduled for the event is a light heavyweight title fight between reigning champion Charles Oliveira and #1 contender Justin Gaethje.
Ovince Saint Preux (25-16-0, 13-11-0 UFC) burst into the UFC in 2013 and earned four straight victories before suffering a unanimous decision loss to current Bellator heavyweight champion Ryan Bader. Since then ‘OSP’ has earned notable wins against Marcos Rogerio de Lima, Yushin Okami and Corey Anderson.
The first time ‘OSP’ and Rua faced each other was at UFC Fight Night 56 in November 2014. Emanating from Uberlândia, Minas Gerais, Brazil, the event served as a homecoming for Rua who fights out of Curitiba, Parana, Brazil. That homecoming was short lived as ‘OSP’ put away his light heavyweight rival just 34 seconds into the first round.
Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua (27-12-1, 11-10-1 UFC) will step into the Octagon for the 23rd time at UFC 274. Rua earned notoriety back in 2005 when he won the PRIDE Middleweight Grand Prix defeating ‘Rampage’ Jackson, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Alistair Overeem. At the end of his run in PRIDE, ‘Shogun’ was widely considered the best light heavyweight in the world.
Making his promotional debut at UFC 76, ‘Shogun’ lost to Forrest Griffin, but bounced back with stoppages over Mark Coleman and Chuck Liddell to earn a shot at Lyoto Machida’s light heavyweight title. ‘Shogun’ lost the bout via a controversial unanimous decision that prompted the UFC to book an immediate rematch. ‘Shogun’ would go on to knock out ‘The Dragon’ in their UFC 113 rematch to capture his first and only UFC title.
Originally rumored to take place in Rio De Janeiro, UFC 274 is expected to remain stateside though no location or venue has been announced as of this writing. The event was expected to be headlined by Glover Texeira and Jiri Prochazka for the UFC light heavyweight title, but recent news stated that the fight will be pushed back to June. Other bouts current scheduled for the event include:
- Joe Lauzon vs. Donald Cerrone
- Macy Chiasson vs. Norma Dumont
- Ariane Carnelossi vs. Lupita Godinez
- Blagoy Ivanov vs. Marcos Rogerio de Lima
- C.J. Vergara vs. Kleydson Rodrigues
- Journey Newson vs. Fernie Garcia
Card subject to change.
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Featured image credit to Embed from Getty Images
Featured image credit to Embed from Getty Images
