SHOGUN SIGNS NEW CONTRACT WITH PRIDE

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SHOGUN SIGNS NEW CONTRACT WITH PRIDE
Friday, March 23, 2007 - by MMAWeekly.com

MMAWeekly has received word from our Brazilian connection, Denis Martins, that his contacts at Chute Boxe are telling him that Mauricio “Shogun” Rua has signed a new four-fight contract with Pride Fighting Championships.

There has been some speculation that the new contract is structured as two fights for Pride FC and two fights for the Ultimate Fighting Championship. That appears to be information that may have been jumbled because of the recent swirl of controversy surrounding the possible sale of Pride FC to Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta, whose company Zuffa LLC owns the UFC.

Shogun’s new contract is with Pride FC, but if the company is indeed going to change hands (especially with everything pointing in that direction lately), it is likely that his new contract was structured so that it would be part of the Pride sale, and thus we could eventually see Shogun in the UFC. But until an actual sale does take place, Shogun is a Pride fighter.

The 25-year-old Shogun is currently the world's #2 Light Heavyweight in the MMAWeekly Rankings. Shogun won Pride's 205-pound Grand Prix in 2005 by defeating Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Alistair Overeem, and Ricardo Arona.

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