Pride legend Shogun Rua continues to fight on, with the light heavyweight veteran facing Smilin’ Sam Alvey next!
The legendary Shogun Rua will return, against a middleweight turned light heavyweight who has been looking to hunt legends. Rua, a former UFC light heavyweight champion and PRIDE standout, will face Sam Alvey at UFC Sao Paulo, according to ESPN’s Ariel Helwani. It will be Rua’s first fight since a December 2018 win over Tyson Pedro.
Rua (26–11), now 37-years old, is 4-1 over his last five fights. Prior to the Pedro bout, a loss to Anthony Smith snapped a three fight win streak for Shogun, properly Mauricio Rua. His biggest problem of late has been consistency, having fought just once in 2015, 2016, and 2017, and making it to the octagon twice last year.
Shogun won light heavyweight gold in the UFC in an immediate rematch with Lyoto Machida at UFC 113. The follow-up to their UFC 104 bout saw Rua knock Machida out, but he dropped the title in his very next fight, against Jon Jones.
Sam Alvey (33–13, 1NC) has fought some big names, including Thales Leites, Rashad Evans, and Little Nog. However, after winning two straight after moving to light heavyweight in 2018, he’s lost three consecutive fights. Most recently, he lost a unanimous decision to Klidson Abreu at UFC on ESPN 4.
UFC Sao Paulo (UFC Fight Night 164 / UFC on ESPN+ 22) takes place November 16, 2019 at the Ginásio do Ibirapuera in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
