‘Shogun’ Rua would rather lose his job than fight phenom Glover Teixeira

Glover Teixeira has a well-earned reputation of an extremely dangerous fighter. He hasn't lost since 2005, and 11 of his 19 wins come by knockout. The reputation is so well-known that former UFC light heavyweight champion Mauricio "Shogun" Rua told UFC president Dana White he'd rather lose his job than fight Teixeira.

After Thiago Silva scrapped his fight with Rua because of an injury, the UFC needed a new opponent for Shogun.

"He said that he'd actually rather be cut than have to fight him," White said during a UFC on FX 3 post-fight interview with Ariel Helwani. "Dude, nobody wants to fight this guy. We're trying to match the guy up with somebody, but he didn't mind fighting Brandon Vera, so he's fighting Brandon Vera. I don't want to sound like I'm disrespecting Shogun, because I'm not. I'm just telling the truth. It's verbatim what his people said when we talked to them. You know me. I tell it like it is. If you don't want that out in public, then don't say it to me on the phone, because I'm going to say what was said. Shogun's a warrior. The guy's fought everybody from PRIDE to the UFC. His last fight with Dan Henderson was awesome. It is what it is."

Now, Rua will fight Vera, whose last win was over Eliot Marshall. Before that, Vera loss a bout to Silva which was later turned into a no-contest because of a positive drug test for Silva. The Rua-Verabout will main event the UFC's next show on Fox.

Teixeira made his UFC debut at UFC 146 with an overpowering submission of Kyle Kingsbury. Who do you want to see him fight next? Speak your mind in the comments, on Facebook or on Twitter.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/shogun-rua-rather-lose-job-fight-phenom-glover-165919238--mma.html

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