Mauricio "Shogun" Rua to Return with a Bang?

Mauricio "Shogun" Rua has experienced some monumental ups and some demoralizing downs in his career. He rose to stardom in Pride, where he was a wrecking machine and was found kicking peoples heads in with uncaring ruthlessness.

Shogun has destroyed most of his opponents. The list is star-studded, with names such as Rampage, Rogerio Noguiera, and Randleman. However, his greatest high came on August 28th, 2005 in the Pride Grand Prix.

On this magical night, Shogun faced Alistair Ovreem in the semi-finals; Shogun had no problem dismantling Ovreem inside seven minutes with strikes.

In the final, he faced the extremely dangerous Jiu Jitsu specialist Ricardo Arona. However, Shogun obliterated Arona in less than three minutes via brutal strikes. This win cemented his place as one of the best 205 pounders in the world.

With only one loss on his record at this point, nobody thought he would experience any downs for quite a while.

That thought was wrong. In his next bought against the wrestling powerhouse and daddy of ground and pound Mark Coleman, he suffered a debilitating loss.

While Coleman tried for the takedown Shogun fell awkwardly, resulting in a dislocated elbow. The devastation of the loss was compounded with a brawl in the ring between Chute Boxe and team Hammer House.

Despite this loss, Shogun returned with four dominating wins in a row, two coming against Randleman and Ovreem again.

After these wins, the American fans were now going to get to see the Pride superstar, due to the UFC's purchase Pride. His first opponent was Forrest Griffin; many thought Griffin was going to take a battering. But, Griffin had different ideas.

Griffin pushed the pace at a level that Shogun could not tolerate. With 15 seconds left in round three, Griffin did the unimaginable and choked Shogun out.

After the loss, Shogun was heavily criticized due to for "terrible" cardio. However, it is thought that Shogun went into the fight with a substantial knee injury. But, nothing can be taken away from the now present Light-Heavyweight Champ Griffin.

Since this loss, things have gotten worse for Shogun. A scheduled bout with Chuck Liddell at UFC 85 had to be scrapped due to a horrible knee injury which required surgery.

Now, after more than a year out, Shogun will make his return at UFC 93 in Dublin, Ireland against Mark Coleman, the man that dislocated his elbow. Can he come back with a bang and avenge the loss decisively? I believe he can.