Murilo “Ninja” Rua, brother of renowned light heavyweight Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, has decided to retire from Mixed Martial Arts after suffering a knockout over the weekend at BAMMA 6 to Tom Watson. The defeat was his second consecutive loss after having won four in a row prior to the slide.

“It was an amazing run, and it’s a very tough moment, but there comes a time for all in life, and it’s time to move on. I am proud of all I did in MMA and all experiences I had,” the 31-year old explained after his defeat. “It’s time now to help others and enjoy my family, my wife, my kids and move on.”

Rua concluded by saying his focus would turn to training and teaching others rather than taking to the ring and throwing down.

“I don’t even need to say how much I love my brother. “Ninja” only made me proud. I started fighting cause of him – (he) was always my motivation,” his younger sibling “Shogun” wrote on Twitter in response to the news. “I’m proud of his career and all he battled and conquered. MMA is today where it’s at….cause of warriors like him.”

“Shogun” then turned his attention directly to his brother, continuing, “You leave with your head up high as a fighter, and will continue your way! You don’t need to prove anything anymore, and will keep shining. Let’s go together and life goes on. As you did to me, you will inspire and help many other future pro athletes! I’m very proud of you!”

Rua leaves the sport with a 20-12-1 overall record including an impressive eighteen wins by way of a finishing performance and has only actually seen the judges’ scorecards a total of two times in an eleven-year career. “Ninja” first made a name for himself in Brazil with the famed Chute Boxe Academy before coming to mainstream attention in PRIDE where he fought thirteen times and often faced men larger than himself including Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Sergei Kharitonov. He holds notable past wins over Mario Sperry, Xavier Foupa-Pokam, and Joey Villasenor.

PHOTO CREDIT – ESTHER LIN / FEG

Ninja managed to bounce back from back to back defeats while slaying Alex “The Brazilian Killer” Stiebling with a pulverizing head kick early in the first round. Once collapsed, Rua pounced on his fallen opponent, finishing him off with a series of punches from the top.

Rizzo made it 2-0 against Jeff “The Snowman” Monson, as he also put himself back on the map following consecutive defeats. Unable to TKO Monson as he had during Art Of War 3 when the two had previously faced off, yet Rizzo was able to fight his fight, keeping the fight standing on his way to the unanimous decision victory.

Monson was riding a seven fight win streak going into the rematch with Rizzo.

Rua, the older brother of UFC light heavyweight Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, is scheduled to compete at DREAM.8 on April 5 in Saitama, Japan, according to Graciemag.com. The former PRIDE superstar last competed on Oct. 4 during EliteXC and CBS’ Saturday Night Fights, where he lost a second round TKO to Benji Radach.

An opponent has yet to be determined for Rua’s DREAM debut but he is quoted as saying that his opposition will be of Korean descent. The elder Rua appears prepared to take a fight on short notice as he is currently in Brazil helping his brother train for his upcoming fight with Chuck Liddell during next month at UFC 97

Rua, 16-9, also stated that he has been training with top UFC middleweight contender Demian Maia while also going on record to say he believes his brother will defeat Liddell. According to “Ninja,” his brother is in great shape and has regained a lot of quickness and other attributes needed to make him a contender for the UFC light heavyweight title.

The first-ever EliteXC middleweight champion has gone up against some of the best fighters in the world during his career. Notable opponents have included Ricardo Arona, Akihiro Gono, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Dan Henderson, Paulo Fihlo, Denis Kang and Robbie Lawler.

The San Jose-based promotion is believed to have the option of acquiring additional contracts from ProElite in the future, but as it stands now, a great deal of fighters will continue to remain under ProElite control.

FiveOuncesOfPain.com has learned that two fighters that will remain under contract to ProElite are EliteXC heavyweight champion Antonio Silva and former EliteXC middleweight champion Murilo “Ninja” Rua.

Once considered a hot commodity, Silva’s stock has declined in recent months due to the fact that he defied a one-year suspension in January that had been handed down by the California State Athletic Commission due to a positive steroid test.

Had Silva not fought on January 4 for the Japan-based Sengoku promotion he could have been reinstated as early as July. However, the commission is now expected to meet in the next several months to vote to revoke Silva’s license and in turn leave him ineligible to fight in the United States on an indefinite basis.

Sources indicate that Silva’s stock was also hurt by the fact that he received $200,000 following EliteXC’s “Unfinished Business” in July for his heavyweight title victory against the late Justin Eilers in a bout that headlined a Showtime broadcast that served as a prelude to CBS’ telecast of Saturday Night Fights. Half of the six figure salary had been paid in the form of a guarantee with the other half coming in the form of a win bonus.

Having earned $35,000 for his knockout loss to Benji Radach this past October during EliteXC’s “Heat” event, Rua’s contract was also deemed to be too pricey. Despite having become the first-ever EliteXC middleweight champion following a second round TKO over Joey Villasenor during a combined Strikeforce and EliteXC event in July of 2007, Rua is just 2-2 in his last four bouts.

The Brazilian MMA website Tatame is reporting that Marcos “Baby” Rua will be entering the profession of mixed martial arts in March, if not sooner.

Marcos, the 22-year old younger brother of Murilo, 28, and Mauricio, 27, had been scheduled to debut at an event in January that has now been postponed until March. However, it appears that his brother’s first fight can’t come enough for Mauricio.

[We thought] he would fight at “The Glory” [and] that [it] would happen at January, but was delayed to March. [However,] want to see him fighting before,” he is quoted as telling Tatame.

Marcos trains with both of his brothers at Universidade da Luta (which translates to “University of Fighting” in English) in Curitiba, Brazil and being the biggest of the three, appears ticketed for the light heavyweight division.

The youngest of the three fighting Rua brothers received a small amount of exposure in the United States when he traveled to South Florida to corner oldest brother Murilo for his EliteXC fight against Benji Radach on CBS.

Any question as to whether Marcos shares the same undying loyalty that Mauricio and Murilo have for each other was answered soon after “Ninja’s” second round TKO loss. While it was not visible on camera, he became so overcome by emotion by the condition of his fallen brother that he had to exit the cage.

While Marcos Rua awaits his MMA debut, the next member of the Rua family that is scheduled to fight is Mauricio, who will take on Mark Coleman at UFC 93 on January 17 in Dublin, Ireland.

This is one of the best middleweight fights you will ever see outside of the UFC. These two 185lbers are some of the most exciting stand up fighters in MMA. We have a fighter on the comeback trail to elite status versus another on a quest to reclaim his title belt. Both have slick striking with knockout power and cement chins. This has potential to be fight of the night and steal the show.

Benji Radach was a highly touted prospect early in his career who started off on a nine fight winning streak. He took the step up in competition to the UFC and did well, taking his first loss on a hard fought bout with Sean Sherk that ended with a cut. Not losing any luster off his promising status, Radach moved forward and continued to win at smaller shows. Then his life changed when he took a fight with Chris Leben in 2004. Leben shattered Radach’s jaw which managed to start a chain reaction of injuries that kept Radach out of MMA for almost 3 years. A broken jaw, a herniated disc that caused partial paralysis, a spider bite that created a large hole in his leg, a torn meniscus that required knee surgery, and a staph infection from hell that almost caused his arm to be amputated. They all helped to keep him sidelined until Bas Rutten and the IFL came a calling in 2007. He rattled off five straight wins in the IFL until his championship loss to Matt Horwich last December.

Radach is an excellent wrestler but an even better boxer. He has fantastic hands, but it was his devastating knockout power that put Radach on the map. He has since turn into a pretty good all-around kickboxer with decent ground skills. His wrestling enables Radach to stay out of trouble on the ground and he wins most scrambles for position. His guard is strictly defensive, he will not threaten to many submissions from his back. He also uses his wrestling in reverse to prevent the takedown and keep the fight standing.

Ninja Rua is a Pride veteran and an original member of the famed Chute Boxe academy in Brazil. Ninja started his career with much ballyhoo and delivered with exciting fights. He was an exciting Muay Thai fighter with amazing cardio and fantastic Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. His first loss was a split decision to Dan Henderson, but the fight that really put Ninja on the map was his win over Zen master Mario Sperry. Sperry represented the rival fight team in Brazil, Brazilian Top Team. The fight was not just between to spectacular fighters, but two fight teams and their way of lives. Ninja triumphed in a fantastic decision victory and announced that Rua was the man to beat. But as happened often in his career, every time Rua took a step forward he then took two steps backward. He had several disappointing losses that always seemed to keep him from elite status, but the biggest hit to his mystique was his 15 second knockout loss to Denis Kang. After that fight he ventured from Pride to find his own way. He seemed to finally find the validation he was seeking when he won the middleweight belt in EliteXC by beating Joey Villasenor. But in true ninja fashion he followed one big step forward with a big step backwards in the form of a loss to Robbie Lawler.

Ninja is an excellent kickboxer and Muay Thai fighter, as well as a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. He is an fantastic improvisational fighter and is wonderful at winning the scrambles. He is a superb grappler and capable of submitting someone from any position in the fight. His biggest advantage might be his conditioning as he can put a pace on a fighter that they cannot hope to rival. His conditioning can also cause his biggest error, and that is over aggressiveness.  He sometimes rushes head first into trouble and can get caught with strikes. He seems to have settled down with age and maturity, but he still seems impatient at times.

This fight is seemingly for the number one contender spot in the middleweight division. Winner most likely will get a shot at Robbie Lawler. As much fun as Ninja is to watch fight, Radach has the power, the patience, and the wrestling to win the scrambles. I see Radach grinding out a decision victory over Rua. Ninja is extremely tough to finish, even with Radach’s power. Rua could catch Radach in a submission, maybe pick off an arm. But this matchup favors Radach and his controlling patient style of fighting. I think the smart move for Rua would be to take the fight to the floor and do the damage from within the guard, but ninja is too aggressive for that. I think he will want to stand and bang with Radach, and that will prove to be his undoing. I think Radach wins this via split decision.

The news comes courtesy of a report on Sherdog, which is quoting Radach as the primary sources for its story. EliteXC and Rua’s camp have yet to confirm the report.

EliteXC apparently spent a significant amount of time recruiting Radach, as sources revealed to FiveOuncesOfPain.com last month that the company was in talks with the former IFL star. He would be the first high-profile ex-IFL fighter to have signed with EliteXC with most of the new-defunct fight promotion’s top fighters having either signed with the UFC, the WEC, or Affliction’s MMA promotion.

Radach is 18-4, according to Sherdog’s fight finder and holds notable wins over Shannon Ritch, Nick Serra, Ryan McGivern, and Gustavo Machado. He holds a lifetime record in the UFC 1-1 with one no contest. His lone UFC win came against Serra at UFC 37.5 in June of 2002 with his only loss coming against Sean Sherk at UFC 39 in September of 2002.

He made his UFC debut in May of 2002 at UFC 37 against Steve Berger in a bout ruled a no contest after it was overturned by the Louisiana State Athletic Commission. Radach was originally ruled the winner via TKO at 0:27 of round 1.

After suffering a serious injury vs. Chris Leben and losing as a result during a Sportfight show in 2004, Radach took a three-year hiatus from competitive MMA before returning in February of 2007 after signing a contract with the IFL. He was one of the promotion’s true success stories, compiling a 5-1 under the IFL banner upon his return.

The next CBS-EliteXC telecast is set to take place in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. at the BankAtlantic Center. Featured bouts include Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson taking on an opponent-to-be-named (believed to be either Brett Rogers or Ken Shamrock), Gina Carano vs. Kelly Kobald-Gavin, and Jake Shields defending his EliteXC welterweight title vs. British-import Paul Daley.

Villasenor and Rua last fought for the then-vacant EliteXC middleweight title in June of 2007 during the undercard of the EliteXC/Strikeforce co-promotion that featured Frank Shamrock vs. Phil Baroni. The 32-year old native of East Los Angeles lost the fight via second round TKO but has 3-0 in EliteXC since suffering the loss.

While speaking with FiveOuncesOfPain.com on Tuesday evening, EliteXC Vice President Jared Shaw categorized the chances of the possible rematch happening on Sept. 20 as as “highly doubtful.” Shaw added that “While it would be an exciting fight and a rematch that could happen down-the-line, I would give a ballpark estimate of that fight happening on Sept. 20 as less than 50 percent.”

Shaw did confirm that Villasenor is expected to appear on the card against a yet-to-be finalized opponent.

“It sounds like it’s going to be in my hometown of Albuquerque, New Mexico,” Villasenor said. “We’re just waiting on confirmation of who it’s going to be (against).”

“They keep on bringing up Ninja’s name,” Villasenor said. “They’re bringing up other names, but Ninja is the one that is sticking out right now.”

A rematch against Rua would allow Villasenor the opportunity to avenge his only loss in the EliteXC organizaiton. The last time these two fought was in June of last year with Rua coming out on top with a second round TKO. Most recently Villasenor defeated Phil Baroni via TKO in round one and Rua toppled Tony Bonello in devastating fashion on the same card in May.

A win for either fighter would set up a possible rematch with current EliteXC middleweight champion Robbie Lawler. Lawler defeated Rua in September of last year to win the EliteXC middleweight championship. Villasenor dropped a fight against Lawler at PRIDE 32 in Las Vegas in 2006. Both men have a score to settle with the current champion and this fight could be billed as a #1 contender matchup in EliteXC’s middleweight division.

And my favorite thing about him is that he said that while he knows he can’t equal the professional careers of Durant, Oden and Smith (well, maybe he can equal Smith), he does plan to turn professional. It’s just that he’ll turn professional in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, which he says he has his eyes on for the future.

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