The legendary Mauricio “Shogun” Rua will return to action against light heavyweight veteran Ovince Saint Preux at the upcoming UFC 274 card on May 7 live on ESPN+ pay-per-view (PPV) from a city and venue yet to be named. This is according to a report by AG Fight early Friday.
Rua, 40, was rumored to be leaning towards retirement following his recent TKO loss to Paul Craig back in Nov. 2020. The former UFC light heavyweight champion is widely regarded as one of the best fighters of all-time so it’s nice to see him making at least one more Octagon appearance. Rua previously met “OSP” back in 2014 and ended up losing via first-round knockout. The rematch was scheduled for a main event spot in 2017, but an injury forced “Shogun” out of the fight.
Saint Preux, 38, has experienced a bit of a rough patch of late as well. The former UFC light heavyweight title challenger is coming off back-to-back knockout losses to Jamahal Hill and Tanner Boser. While Rua is far from what he used to be a win for “OSP” this May will do wonders for his UFC stock. The veteran fighter has been dabbling in the land of heavyweights of late so maybe a win will let him sink his heels in at 205 pounds for the rest of the year.
UFC 274 is expected to be headlined by a lightweight title fight pitting current champion Charles Oliveira against streaking contender Justin Gaethje. The PPV card will also feature a light heavyweight title bout featuring current champion Glover Teixeira and red-hot finisher Jiri Prochazka.
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