Former UFC champions Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and Glover Teixeira will meet in a boxing match in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in the main event of Spaten Fight Night 3 on Aug. 29, and Shogun feels it’s the perfect platform for their encounter.
Teixeira joined the UFC in 2012 when Rua was working his way back up in the light heavyweight division after losing his belt to Jon Jones, and the promotion considering matching them up that year. It never came to fruition, and “Shogun” likes it that way even though he wished
to have shared the octagon with Teixeira.
“I really thought I’d end up fighting Glover in the UFC,” Rua told MMA Fighting. “But now we’re doing it in boxing, at Spaten, which has already become the biggest event in Brazil. In the end, it was probably better that it didn’t happen in the UFC so it could happen at Spaten. It’s something new for the fans. MMA fans know this is a fight everyone has wanted to see, so I actually think it worked out for the best that it didn’t happen in the UFC and is happening now at Spaten.”
The match will finally happen almost exactly 14 years after UFC’s Dana White said Rua’s team turned down the bout, when Rua allegedly said he would rather get released from the promotion than face Teixeira. Rua denied making those comments then, and to this day defends it made no sense to face the fellow Brazilian, who was 1-0 in the UFC at the time.
“Glover wasn’t even ranked at the time, and I was in the top 5 in the UFC,” Rua said. “Dana White told me that if I won my next fight I’d get another title shot, and if I had won against Glover, I definitely wouldn’t have gotten that opportunity. So my team felt it was better not to accept the fight at that moment. If it had been a different situation, my team would have accepted it without a doubt.”
Fast forward to 2026 and the two veterans, both around 45 years of age now, will collide in an eight-round heavyweight showdown. It’s not an official boxing match but yet a pro-hybrid contest where knockouts are allowed. Both fighters have left the UFC on the same night in January 2023, with Jamahal Hill beating Teixeira in a championship bout and Ihor Potieria stopping “Shogun.” Rua sees this as the chance to “put the gloves on and finally have the farewell fight,” but wouldn’t confirm this is his official retirement bout.
“I don’t know because the future is a mystery,” Rua said. “I truly believe this will be my last fight. I’ve always wanted to fight at Spaten. I think I’ll fight and then actually retire for good, but we’ll see. You never know what tomorrow brings, right?”
Rua and Teixeira combine for almost 50 appearances under the bright lights of the UFC, but Shogun thinks Spaten Fight Night offers something unique if compared to the top MMA promotion. Promoted and funded by one of the world’s largest beverage companies, the martial arts event will air live on TV Globo in Brazil and “definitely” give them more exposure.
“It really gives us much more exposure than we’re used to in MMA,” Rua said. “It’s a great opportunity for people to get to know us and to get to know our sport, martial arts. My biggest motivation for fighting at Spaten is to introduce people to martial arts, to the sport, and to who we are.”
“The UFC is a a promotion event with tremendous exposure today, no doubt about it,” he continued. “It’s been growing for many years. But I think we’re going to reach people who are used to staying home and have never really watched fights before. I think this is the perfect moment for those of us who fight to show the human side of athletes. That was already my focus in the UFC because we’ve worked so hard to change the perception of this sport, and sometimes things happen that end up hurting its image. My goal is to leave a legacy because a legacy lasts forever. Victory is temporary. You win, you lose, and then it’s in the past. A legacy is forever.”
Rua said he became “addicted to weightlifting” after his final UFC bout in 2023 but “fighting is in my DNA.” It will be a new experience now with boxing gloves, so he moved to Curitiba to train under Andre Dida and better prepare for it. Walking around 238 pounds now, “Shogun” plans to be a bit lighter on Aug. 29.
“Anyone who knows me knows I’m always looking for the knockout,” Rua said. “Glover is the same way, he’s always looking for the knockout too. No matter who’s fighting, heavyweight fights rarely go the distance.”
“In my opinion, we’re even. Neither of us has an advantage [in boxing],” he continued. “Maybe if it were muay Thai I’d have the edge. If it were jiu-jitsu, he’d have the advantage. But in boxing, I don’t think either of us has the upper hand. We’re evenly matched. We’re also almost the same age, and we retired on the same day, so I think everything is pretty even.”
