Shogun Rua Out Until March, Leaving 205-Pound Division in Holding Pattern

LAS VEGAS -- Rashad Evans won a light-heavyweight championship title opportunity when he beat Quinton "Rampage" Jackson in May, but he's going to have to wait a while to cash in his golden ticket.

UFC President Dana White confirmed Thursday that current champion Mauricio "Shogun" Rua won't be back in the octagon for another eight months, likely returning in March 2011.

Still, White took that as good news, saying that his surgically repaired knee is healing well since a recent surgery.

"Shogun's great, his knee's coming along great," White said just after the UFC 116 pre-fight press conference. "It's all good."

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thats good, at least Shogun will have more time to be with his daughter

Here comes the, inevitable, interim championship belt.

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Posted by BlueSkiesBurn

Here comes the, inevitable, interim championship belt.

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Interesting, where do you think Dana will go with it?

We have Rashad, Lyoto, Rogerio Forrest and Rampage who are arguably in the mix.

Easy, Rashad-Machida rematch. Nobody else is there yet.

Rashad vs. Forrest for Interim title

I'd like to see Machida vs Rampage, and Rashad can either choose to wait, or I'd give him Rogerio.

Might as well have an interim belt. After tomorrow Lesnar will have fought an interim champion twice in a row. Interim belts are trash, but if they allow an elite MMA fight to be scheduled for an appropriate amount of rounds I'll take interim belts all over.

just do a interim like always probably will be couture vs evans

but jones should be one of the contenders

I would have thought that an interim match would be between Rashad and Little Nog. I mean Lyoto and Rampage are coming off losses and Forrest lost two in a row before his split decision against Tito.

I dont thin an interim is necessarry or liely unless I completely missed something.

Well, if he's going to be out until March it will be close to year since he's fought and he's the champ. They did it with Lesnar being out for close to that long. Why wouldn't they do it with Rua. What are you going to do with the LHW belt, have it sit on the shelf for a year?

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Posted by BlueSkiesBurn

Well, if he's going to be out until March it will be close to year since he's fought and he's the champ. They did it with Lesnar being out for close to that long. Why wouldn't they do it with Rua. What are you going to do with the LHW belt, have it sit on the shelf for a year?

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I would let it sit on the shelf. If he is out 'til March, it is pretty likely that they would only get one match for the interim belt in anyways before then. Look what happened with Carwin. He won the interim belt by beating Mir, never defended it, and now it will vanish into the ether after tomorrow win or lose. It would have been better for the Carwin/Mir fight to have just been for a title shot, not a meaningless belt. Have Rashad fight someone in the late fall for a shot at the title in March.

That's usually what the interim belt is...they never really defend it. To my knowledge only Arlovski and Nog ever defended an interim belt. It's usually just to have a five round fight on a card.

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Posted by BlueSkiesBurn

That's usually what the interim belt is...they never really defend it. To my knowledge only Arlovski and Nog ever defended an interim belt. It's usually just to have a five round fight on a card.

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i think its just an excuse to make a contender match a 5 rounder

I really think they could hold two fights before March. One for the interim then a defense of the interim belt. Or maybe they could do a small tournament to see how gets a shot. Lyoto, Rashad, Lil Nog, Rampage, Forrest and Jones. 4 of these guys in a small tourny would be awesome. Id like to see A. Silva but hes got obligations with Belfort after Sonnen.

I would love for them to do another 4 man mini tournament like they did for heavyweight. Hopefully dana's on the same page as me here and wants to push Machida v. Rashad and Nog v. Rampage.

If theres no mini kumite, I think the only contender fight you could make is Machida v. Rashad.
But does the management really want to push Machida v. Shogun 3? Already?

All of this would depend on whether or not the fighter that won the interim belt didn't sustain any significant damage. Also, it depends on if there are any setbacks with Shogun's surgery.

nvm lol

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Posted by jiujitsufreak74

nvm lol

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I really want to know where that was headed before you said "to hell with it"

I understand fighters can't help it when they sustain injuries but I have to admit i'm tired of so many interm titles floating around all the time.

I don't think that they mean anything more often than not. It's just a way to sell a card with a title bout on it. I'll admit, a card with a title fight on it, or a meeting of an interim and current champ (Carwin vs. Lesnar) looks much more psychological appealing than if it were just Lesnar's belt on the line. Seems stupid, I know, but for some reason it works on me.