UFC light-heavyweight champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua (19-4) is healing better than expected and may make his return to the octagon “sooner than expected” according to the champ’s manager Eduardo Alonso.

Alonso spoke to Sherdog.com about “Shogun’s” knee surgery, which he had on June 10 in Los Angeles, and the fighter’s expected return.

“Off the top of my head, I think of the Superbowl card in February, but this is something that could change depending on his recovery schedule and the UFC’s business schedule,” said Alonso. “But the way things are going right now, I can tell you that he’ll be ready sooner than expected.”

“…We had options to do the surgery in many different places, but opted with the UFC’s advice to do it in Los Angeles with Dr. Kitvme,” said Alonso. “Honestly, I think it’s the best decision we’ve ever made.”

“…Whatever happens, Shogun will have to defend his belt when he’s back sooner or later and if it’s against an interim champion or just a contender, it doesn’t change much,” he said. “The way we see it, unless a champion retires, the interim champion is just another contender.”

Top contender Rashad Evans has already stated he isn’t interested in fighting for an interim title and will wait for Rua to make his return. (MMAfighting.com)

“I’m really not in a rush to fight right now – I’m ready, but I just want to fight the best fighters,” Evans said. “I know he fought Machida when he was hurt, so I can wait to fight the best Shogun. I’m not like, ‘Ahhh – I need to fight! I need to fight!’ There’s a lot of things I can do with my time when I’m not fighting.”

Click here to view the embedded video.

Former UFC Light Heavyweight Champ and current #1 contender “Suga” Rashad Evans sits down with MMA H.E.A.T.’s Karyn Bryant for his first filmed interview after defeating Quinton “Rampage” Jackson at UFC 113. Hear about the pre-fight smack talk, the decision victory and whether or not Rampage is actually crazy. Rashad also talks about the possibility of fighting Lyoto Machida for the interim title as the current Champ, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, rehabs after knee surgery.

HT: MMAHeat.com

Former UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida has fully recovered from a knockout loss to Mauricio "Shogun" Rua in
May, and "The Dragon" is primed for a return to action.

And if you think Machida is looking for some kind of warm-up fight to
get the taste of his first professional loss out of his mouth, think
again.

Instead, with Rua sidelined until the spring, Machida and his camp would
like a shot at an interim title against Rashad Evans with the winner
eventually taking on "Shogun."

UFC light heavyweight champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua will be out of action until March 2011, according to UFC president Dana White, and it seems the knee surgery Rua underwent was much more severe than originally thought. Fighter’s Only had the scoop:

Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua’s latest knee surgery involved a “significant” amount of work and was more like a “reconstruction” of the joint than a standard ligament-repair job, according to a source close to the UFC light-heavyweight champion.

If Rua takes considerable time in returning the UFC may have an interim champion as they’ve done in the past in various weight classes. Rua is coming off an impressive victory over Lyoto Machida but expect Machida to be in any hunt for an interim title. Other names mentioned for a shot would include Rampage Jackson and Rashad Evans, though there’s nothing officially in the works. Rua’s had several injury issues, and one has to wonder how the champ’s body is holding out. It’ll be at least March before we find out.

LAS VEGAS - On Friday, UFC president Dana White informed a small group
of reporters that he expects UFC light heavyweight champion Mauricio "Shogun"
Rua to be sidelined until March 2011 while recovering from knee surgery.

While the news proved surprising to most MMA observers, at least one
prominent figure assumed the Brazilian slugger would be on the shelf for
quite some time: current No. 1 challenger Rashad Evans.

"I kind of figured he would be out for awhile after his last fight
hearing how he went into the fight beforehand," Evans told
MMAjunkie.com.

A rumored match-up between UFC light-heavyweights Antônio Rogério “Lil Nog” Nogueira (19-3) and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson (30-8) has been put to rest by UFC president Dana White.

White spoke to the press at today’s UFC 116 pre-fight press conference saying that the rumors were false, and he noted that the UFC has no opponent in mind for Jackson, a former UFC light-heavyweight champion.

“It’s not true, we don’t have anything set up yet,” White said. “With that division right now, Little Nog could fight Rampage, Rampage could fight Machida. There’s a lot of fights we could make and we haven’t made any decisions on that fight.”

Asked if Nogueira-Jackson is being seriously considered by the UFC, White held his cards to the vest.

“We’re looking at all of them,” he said. “Time-wise, Rampage is still promoting the [A-Team] movie overseas, so we’re trying to figure out what the next fight will be.”

White was also asked about the current UFC light-heavyweight champions status, noting that Mauricio “Shogun” Rua will likely return in 2011 to face top contender Rashad Evans. “Shogun” has gone under knee surgery for an injury he suffered in his title win over former champ Lyoto Machida at UFC 113.

“Shogun’s great, his knee’s coming along great, it’s all good,” said White. “He probably won’t fight till next March.”

HT: MMAFighting.com

A rumored match-up between UFC light-heavyweights Antônio Rogério “Lil Nog” Nogueira (19-3) and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson (30-8) has been put to rest by UFC president Dana White.

White spoke to the press at today’s UFC 116 pre-fight press conference saying that the rumors were false, and he noted that the UFC has no opponent in mind for Jackson, a former UFC light-heavyweight champion.

“It’s not true, we don’t have anything set up yet,” White said. “With that division right now, Little Nog could fight Rampage, Rampage could fight Machida. There’s a lot of fights we could make and we haven’t made any decisions on that fight.”

Asked if Nogueira-Jackson is being seriously considered by the UFC, White held his cards to the vest.

“We’re looking at all of them,” he said. “Time-wise, Rampage is still promoting the [A-Team] movie overseas, so we’re trying to figure out what the next fight will be.”

White was also asked about the current UFC light-heavyweight champions status, noting that Mauricio “Shogun” Rua will likely return in 2011 to face top contender Rashad Evans. “Shogun” has gone under knee surgery for an injury he suffered in his title win over former champ Lyoto Machida at UFC 113.

“Shogun’s great, his knee’s coming along great, it’s all good,” said White. “He probably won’t fight till next March.”

HT: MMAFighting.com

A light heavyweight showdown between Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira looks like it may be coming to fruition as Tatame.com has recently reported that both fighters have agreed to the potential contest, although no contracts have been signed at this point.

If the fight does take place, it’s likely it would be held in September at an event yet to be announced.

“It’s set that he’ll be back in September, and rumors point that his opponent might be Quinton Jackson,” said Nogueira’s boxing coach Luis Carlos Dórea in a recent conversation with Tatame.com. “It’d be a great fight for Rogério, he’s a former UFC champion and a victory over him will move us pretty close to the title. The UFC only has top athletes and Quinton Jackson is really dangerous. It’d be a great fight, but the UFC didn’t confirmed anything yet.”

Both men are considered to be among the top contenders in the ultra-stacked UFC 205 lb. division, while Jackson recently came back from a lengthy layoff only to be handed a defeat in the form of a unanimous decision at the hands of Rashad Evans at UFC 114, and Nogueira is fresh off of a controversial split decision victory over Jason Brilz at the same event on May 29.

Number one light heavyweight contender Rashad Evans has never been much appreciated by MMA fans, and while he`s not a heel of the calibre of Josh Koscheck there`s a large contingency of booing whenever the former TUF competitor enters the Octagon. The boos were never louder than during and after his bout with Quentin `Rampage`Jackson and it seems that they might be getting to him, though his own words suggest otherwise(via fighthype)

`… I give up on these fans man. I’m not going to be like, ‘Man, I don’t know why these guys don’t like me.’ If they don’t like me, they don’t like me. I’m to the point where I don’t care. I went back to my wrestling for the last 2 fights, but before that, I was standing and banging and trying to do shit to please them. But because I went back to my wrestling in my last 2 fights, they got a problem with that. Even for the Rampage fight, I did some takedowns, but for the most part, I wasn’t holding nobody down in a stagnant position to where they had to stand us back up.

Like it or not, Rashad won his bout against Jackson at UFC 114 and is now waiting for Mauricio`Shogun` Rua to heal from his injuries so the two can meet for the UFC light heavyweight title. Just don`t expect the booing to stop any time soon.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Former UFC light-heavyweight champion Rashad Evans addresses Quinton “Rampage” Jackson’s and fan comments that he fought a boring fight at UFC 114. He’s happy to fight for the title or for an interim title next.

HT: FightersOnlyMagazine.co.uk