If this is to be the last hoorah for Ultimate Fighting Championship and Pride Fighting Championships legend “Shogun”
Mauricio
Rua, he will go out guns blazing against a tough foe.
Late Wednesday night,
MMA Mania first broke the news of Rua’s next opponent. It will
not be Lyoto
Machida, as had been
previously discussed by Machida’s manager. Instead, Rua
(27-13-1) will battle it out with 26-year-old Ukrainian Ihor
Potieria (18-3) at light heavyweight at UFC 283.
The 205ers will dance on Jan. 21 inside Rio de Janeiro’s Jeunesse
Arena. The pairing has since been
confirmed by other outlets.
While he has lost his last two – a close decision in a rematch with
Ovince St.
Preux in May and a submission to strikes against Paul Craig
in late 2020 – Rua had previously put together a solid run with
five wins opposite one defeat and a draw. The former Pride
middleweight champion and UFC light heavyweight king, Rua has faced
a veritable who’s who of names across the sport for over two
decades. “Shogun” burst onto the scene with three dominant
performances on the Pride Bushido series in 2003 and 2004, which
commenced a terrifying 12-fight run with nine knockouts compared to
one loss that came when he broke his arm against Mark Coleman
in 2006. Rua celebrates a career finish rate of 81%, and he posts
knockouts in two of his last three wins.
Known to some as “The Duelist,” Potieria made his promotional debut
in July against Nicolae
Negumereanu. Potieria succumbed to strikes in the second round,
which concluded a 15-fight win streak that spanned nearly five
years. Potieria made his way to the promotion with a first-round
knockout of Lukasz
Sudolski on the 2021 season of Dana White’s Contender Series, with that fight
his first on a major stage. The Ukrainian trails his prospective
opponent slightly with a stoppage rate of 78%, but he has recorded
finishes in five of his last seven victorious outings.
The headliner for UFC 283 is not yet determined, but the event
itself will go on at the Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro. At least
one championship affair will sit on its lineup, as Deiveson
Figueiredo and Brandon
Moreno will run it back for their fourth encounter as they look
to unify the flyweight title. Other matchups on the card include a
middleweight brawl between Brad
Tavares and Gregory
Rodrigues, a welterweight tilt pairing Mounir
Lazzez against Gabriel
Bonfim and an increasingly rare women’s featherweight bout
between Josiane
Nunes and Zarah
Fairn dos Santos.