Don't Hate Shogun for Refusing to Fight Glover Teixeira

I’ve been hearing a lot of fans question Mauricio Rua’s manliness for refusing to lock horns with Glover Texeira. What babble—Rua would be foolish to risk his prestigious career against a relative newbie.

A loss against unheralded juggernaut Glover Teixeira wrecks Rua’s viability, and a win over Glover hardly propels him up the light-heavyweight ladder.

No doubt, Teixeira is bloodcurdling challenge. As evidenced by his rout over Kyle Kingsbury, the Brazilian whiz kid possesses a range of lethal talents—both on the ground and standing.

Yes, Glover is a beast and he may well contend for the belt. Yet among casual fans, he’s still just “some guy."

If “Shogun” were to be sunk by Teixeira, casual fans would crap all over Rua. He’d be losing to a “nobody.” Not only would Rua’s esteem with casual fans be demoted, but he’d be relegated to insignificance—he’d tumble to the base of the 205 ladder.

Also, “Shogun” would be risking his future salary on the gambit of battling Teixeira.

Fabricio Werdum signed a lucrative, six fight contract with the UFC in 2007. When Junior dos Santos punished Werdum with uppercuts from hell, UFC brass insisted on cutting Werdum’s pay. He lost to a “nobody," after all. Say, whatever happened to that “nobody"?

Werdum, outraged, left the organization for greener (literally - ka ching) pastures. Rua foresees such absurdity plaguing him.

Rua is not a myopic brawler, poisoned by testosterone. He has nothing to prove. He’s playing his cards well. 

A loss to Rua would serve Dana White and Co. well at the bargaining table.

“You lost to this newbie? You’ve suffered two consecutive losses? And you expect me to pay you $150,000 to fight again?” Shogun’s wallet would shrivel.

Refusing to fight Teixeira was a tactical choice on Rua’s part—both for his Octagonal success and his financial success. And to call “Shogun” anything less than a smoldering furnace of manhood is just rubbish typed by spiteful keyboard warriors.    

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