Shogun dreams of returning to the top of the UFC. Photo: Josh Hedges/UFC
Mauritius Shogun, former UFC light heavyweight champion, stated that his focus is on overcoming his bad phase and returning to the top of his category in the future.
Since he lost his belt to Jon Jones, in March 2011, the Brazilian faced moments of ups and downs in the organization. Since then, Shogun has won two fights, against Forrest griffin and Brandon Vera, but was defeated in three others, against Dan Henderson, Alexander Gustafson and most recently Chael Sonnen.
Coming from two consecutive defeats, something previously unheard of in his career, the PRIDE GP champion in 2005 says he is trying hard to find his way back to winning ways. “I push myself a lot and I'm a very competitive guy. Anyone who knows me knows. I know that victory is always important. I always had the dream of becoming number one in the world. I was already champion of my category and I have the dream of becoming champion again, so I work hard to be number one again”, said the fighter, in an interview on the Combate channel website.
Shogun, 32 years old, recognizes that he has already achieved his main career goals, but states that he continues to look for motivation to return to the glory days. “Thank God I have already achieved my biggest dreams in the fight and, sometimes, a mere fight becomes something not so significant. Therefore, today I see every fight as the fight of my life. If the guy wants to be champion, he has to win the next one”, he admits.
His next challenge will be in the early hours of Friday to Saturday (December 6th and 7th), at UFC Fight Night 33, in Brisbane, Australia. He will face New Zealander James Te Huna, who is also coming off a guillotine submission defeat (for the Brazilian Glover Teixeira). Shogun praised his opponent's skills and considers that his style matches his opponent's well. “Te Huna is a strong guy, who likes to take down and is good at boxing. He likes to look for the fight and I like to fight against guys like him, who look for the fight and don't hold back trying to win on points”, he said.
Comments