It’s not out of the question that later this year we’ll be watching Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua and Michael Bisping fighting at a 195lb catchweight based on recent comments from both camps.
‘Shogun’ is plotting a potential move down from light-heavyweight after his most recent first round KO loss to Ovince St. Preux which left him with just one win in his last five Octagon outings.
To make the transition smoother for his fighter, ‘Shogun’s’ manager Eduardo Alonso suggested in a new interview with the portaldovaletudo website in Brazil that perhaps he could fight at a 195lb catchweight first.
With that in mind he suggested Bisping, who’s fought at light-heavyweight in the past, as an ideal opponent for such a bout.
There is a potential spanner in the works as far as that idea goes as Bisping is already set to fight CB Dollaway at UFC 186 in April, but ‘The Count’ has already indicated that he’d be interested in the possibility of fighting ‘Shogun’ after that.
“I hear shoguns manager said shogun is interested in a fight with me at a catch weight of 195lbs,” Bisping wrote on Twitter. “After my fight coming up, I’m in!!!”
Despite both parties appearing to be on-board with the idea, the UFC have so far stayed quiet on the matter and may have other plans for the Brazilian star.
All we know for sure at this stage is that next week ‘Shogun’ will begin his stint as a coach on the latest season of TUF: Brazil opposite Anderson Silva, though in a break from tradition they won’t be fighting each other after the show is finished.
