Murilo Rua
 |
Name | Murilo Rua |
| Nickname | Ninja | |
| Association | Universidade da Luta | |
| Weight Class | Middleweight (185 lbs.) | |
| Height | 5' 11" (181cm) | |
| Style | Muay Thai, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu | |
| Birth Date | May 22, 1980 | |
| Fighting Out Of | Curitiba, Brazil | |
| Country | Brazil | |
| Murilo Rua Pictures | Official Website |
Murilo "Ninja" Rua is a Brazilian mixed martial artist. He is the older brother of Mauricio "Shogun" Rua. He is known for his well-rounded fighting skills, in particular Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Rua is a veteran of PRIDE Fighting Championships, where he once enjoyed a reputation as one of the strongest middleweights in the world. "Ninja" fights at Middleweight (185 lbs.), but has also fought at Light Heavyweight (205 lbs.) and Heavyweight. He is the former and first ever EliteXC Middleweight Champion.
Contents |
Professional Record
| Record | 20 - 13 - 1 (Win – Loss – Draw) |
| Wins | 9 (T)KOs 9 Submissions 2 Decisions |
| Losses | 7 (T)KOs 0 Submissions 6 Decisions |
| Result | Opponent | Method | Event Title | Date | Round | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loss | Paulo Filho | TKO (Punches) | Best of the Best: Filho vs. Ninja | 9/6/2012 | 1 | 4:07 | |
| Loss | Tom Watson | TKO (Head Kick and Punches) | BAMMA 6: Kong vs. Ninja | 5/21/2011 | 3 | 2:06 | For BAMMA Middleweight Championship |
| Loss | Roy Boughton | Decision (Unanimous) | W-1 MMA 6: New Ground | 10/23/2010 | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Win | Jeremy May | Submission (Guillotine Choke) | Impact FC 2 - The Uprising: Sydney | 7/18/2010 | 1 | 4:12 | |
| Win | Arturo Arcemendes | Submission (Arm Triangle Choke) | BCN 7: Bitetti Combat 7 | 5/28/2010 | 1 | 1:27 | |
| Win | Jason Jones | TKO (Punches) | BCN 5: Bitetti Combat 5 | 12/12/2009 | 2 | 3:20 | |
| Win | Alex Stiebling | KO (Head Kick and Punches) | BCN 4: Bitetti Combat 4 | 9/12/2009 | 1 | 0:39 | |
| Loss | Riki Fukuda | Decision (Unanimous) | DREAM 8: Welterweight Grand Prix 2009 Opening Round | 4/05/2009 | 2 | 5:00 | |
| Loss | Benji Radach | TKO (Punches) | EliteXC: Heat | 10/04/2008 | 2 | 2:31 | |
| Win | Tony Bonello | TKO (Punches) | EliteXC: The Return of the King | 6/14/2008 | 1 | 3:15 | |
| Win | Xavier Foupa-Pokam | Submission (Rear Naked Choke) | CR 24: Feel the Pain | 12/01/2007 | 2 | 3:47 | |
| Loss | Robbie Lawler | TKO (Punches) | EliteXC: Uprising | 9/15/2007 | 3 | 2:04 | Lost EliteXC Middleweight Championship |
| Win | Joey Villasenor | TKO (Punches) | Strikeforce and EliteXC: Shamrock vs. Baroni | 6/22/2007 | 2 | 1:05 | Won first-ever EliteXC Middleweight Championship |
| Win | Alex Reid | TKO (Cut on the Shin) | CR 21: Judgment Day | 4/21/2007 | 1 | 0:28 | |
| Win | Mark Weir | Submission (Arm Triangle Choke) | CR 18: Battleground | 9/30/2006 | 2 | 1:15 | |
| Loss | Denis Kang | KO (Punches) | PRIDE Bushido 11 | 6/04/2006 | 1 | 0:15 | PRIDE 2006 Welterweight (185 lbs.) Grand Prix Opening Round |
| Loss | Paulo Filho | Decision (Unanimous) | PRIDE Bushido 10 | 4/02/2006 | 2 | 5:00 | |
| Win | Murad Chunkaiev | Submission (Heel Hook) | PRIDE 30: Fully Loaded | 10/23/2005 | 1 | 3:31 | |
| Loss | Quinton Jackson | Decision (Split) | PRIDE 29: Fists of Fire | 2/20/2005 | 3 | 5:00 | Decision considered bad; Jackson offered winners trophy to Rua after the fight |
| Loss | Sergei Kharitonov | KO (Punches) | PRIDE: Total Elimination 2004 | 4/25/2004 | 1 | 4:14 | PRIDE 2004 Heavyweight Grand Prix Opening Round |
| Win | Alexander Otsuka | Submission (Arm Triangle Choke) | PRIDE 27: Inferno | 2/01/2004 | 1 | 1:25 | |
| Win | Akira Shoji | KO (Flying Knee) | PRIDE: Shockwave 2003 | 12/31/2003 | 1 | 2:24 | |
| Loss | Kevin Randleman | TKO (Cut) | PRIDE 24: Cold Fury 3 | 12/23/2002 | 3 | 0:20 | |
| Loss | Ricardo Arona | Decision (Unanimous) | PRIDE 23: Championship Chaos 2 | 11/24/2002 | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Win | Mario Sperry | Decision (Unanimous) | PRIDE 20: Armed and Ready | 4/28/2002 | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Win | Alex Andrade | Decision (Unanimous) | PRIDE 18: Cold Fury 2 | 12/23/2001 | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Loss | Dan Henderson | Decision (Split) | PRIDE 17: Championship Chaos | 11/03/2001 | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Win | Daijiro Matsui | TKO (Soccer Kick and Stomps) | PRIDE 16: Beasts from the East | 9/24/2001 | 3 | 0:51 | |
| Win | Rogerio Sagate | Submission (Keylock) | Meca 5: Meca World Vale Tudo 5 | 6/09/2001 | 1 | 3:54 | |
| Draw | Akihiro Gono | Draw | Shooto: To the Top 4 | 5/01/2001 | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Win | Leopoldo Serao | TKO (Cut) | Meca 4: Meca World Vale Tudo 4 | 12/16/2000 | 1 | 7:00 | |
| Win | Luiz Claudio das Dores | Submission (Strikes) | Meca 3: Meca World Vale Tudo 3 | 11/14/2000 | 1 | 3:00 | |
| Win | Israel Albuquerque | Submission (Shoulder Injury) | Meca 2: Meca World Vale Tudo 2 | 8/12/2000 | 1 | 1:36 | |
| Win | Adriano Verdelli | Submission (Triangle Choke) | Meca 1: Meca World Vale Tudo 1 | 5/27/2000 | 1 | 3:08 | |
Mixed Martial Arts Career
Murilo Rua started his career at the prestigious Chute Boxe Academy in Curitiba, Brazil, a Muay Thai training group which has produced champions like Wanderlei Silva. Ninja's first foray into MMA was with Brazilian based Meca World Vale Tudo, there he amassed an impressive 5-0-1 record before signing with PRIDE Fighting Championships.
Ninja made his PRIDE debut against Daijiro Matsui in September 2001, which he won via referee stoppage after repeated kicks and stomps. After losing a close decision to Dan Henderson, Rua went on to defeat such fighters as Alex Andrade, Akira Shoji, Alexander Otsuka and Mario Sperry. The latter being the beginnings of the long lasting rivalry between Chute Boxe and Brazilian Top Team. Rua lost to Ricardo Arona in a close battle of attrition, and Sergei Kharitonov in the PRIDE Total Elimination 2004, where Ninja fought as a Heavyweight.
At PRIDE 29 Fists of Fire he faced Quinton "Rampage" Jackson. Jackson won via a split decision that did not seem to reflect the events of the match. Jackson appeared embarrassed with the result and attempted to offer the winner's trophy to Rua following the decision. Commentators such as Mauro Ranallo and Bas Rutten, who were present at the bout, also have stated that they thought Ninja won the encounter.
Rua fought three more times in PRIDE, defeating newcomer Murad Chunkaiev before dropping a lacklustre decision against top ranked Paulo Filho, nevertheless Ninja was selected as part of the PRIDE Welterweight (185 pound) Grand Prix. In the opening bracket however he was knocked out by Denis Kang. Murilo Rua then left PRIDE for a tenure with British MMA promotion Cage Rage in order to strengthen the tie between the two promotions. His first bout, against English UFC veteran Mark Weir, resulted in a victory by submission after a rough and tumble affair. He also defeated Alex Reid via doctor stoppage before the newly created EliteXC organisation purchased Cage Rage, therefore he fought for the vacant EliteXC middleweight at the StrikeForce-EliteXC: Shamrock vs. Baroni event against Greg Jackson trained Joey Villasenor and recorded a second round TKO, stopping him with strikes. After three months as the champion his first title defense came to ICON sport middleweight champion Robbie Lawler, despite narrowly winning the first two rounds, an exhausted Ninja was defeated via a third round TKO at EliteXC: Uprising. He rebounded with a victory over Muay Thai fighter and Cage Rage contender Xavier Foupa-Pokam at Cage Rage 24: Feel the pain.
On December 18 ,2007 , Sherdog.com reported that both Murilo and his brother Mauricio Rua have left the Chute Boxe camp with plans to open up their own facility in Massachusetts. The Ruas' new camp was named Universidade da Luta which translates to "University of Fighting" and instead was opened in the Ruas' hometown of Curitiba, Brazil.
Ninja was initially scheduled to fight Phil Baroni on the May 31st EliteXC card, however, he suffered a minor foot injury which led him to fight on the June 14th card instead. Where he recorded a dominant KO victory over undefeated Tony Bonello. On October 4, 2008, Murilo was defeated by Benji Radach on a live CBS broadcast. Radach finished the fight with punches to Murilo's head after a failed flying knee sent Ninja sprawling on his back.
Rua made his DREAM debut at Dream 8 against Riki Fukuda on April 5, 2009. His original opponent was supposed to be Dong Sik Yoon but Dong was injured and Riki was found as a late replacement. Murilo went on to lose against Riki by unanimous decision.
Rua bounced back with a vicious head kick, followed by punches to put the fight away in the first round of Bitetti Combat Nordeste 4, against Alex Stiebling. He returned to Bitetti on December 12, 2009 to face off against Jason Jones. Around the same time as the announcement of his fight against Jones, it was learned that Rua had signed a three-fight exclusive contract with Shine Fights. Rua earned a TKO (Punches) victory at 3:20 of the second round.
It was announced mid-January 2010, that Rua's first bout with Shine Fights, would be against Falaniko Vitale. Unfortunately it was learned late March 2010 that the bout was scratched due to an injury sustained by Vitale. The promotion began looking for a replacement for Rua to face, but it was also learned that Rua wanted to compete at a Catchweight of 195 lbs., rather than as Middleweight (185 lbs.). It was announced soon after that Vitale would be replaced by Travis Galbraith and would still be fighting on the card, but only three days before the event Galbraith pulled out of the event due to a dispute with his contract.
- "It was kind of a compilation of a few things," Galbraith said. "First off, we were only sent the travel schedule three days prior to the fight. My manager was trying to get hold of them two weeks prior to the fight regarding my travel itinerary and didn't get a rely until three days prior.
- "On top of that, being in the co-main event, it was in my contract that I could have two cornermen accompany me to the fight. Also three days prior to the fight, I was told I was only allowed one guy. So we chose not to participate in the event because the contract was not being met."
Galbraith made it clear that he hoped to still be able to face Rua at some other time in his career, but that it would not happen under the Shine Fights banner. Five-time UFC veteran David Heath was chosen as his replacement. To make matters more complicated, Boxing promoter Don King attempted to pull boxer turned mixed martial artist Ricardo Mayorga from the event due to contractual obligations, which Shine Fights tried to fight, explaining that competing in MMA would not go against Mayorga's contract with King, as it pertained solely to Boxing. A Florida court ruled in favor of King, and Mayorga was pulled from the event, in which he was the main event, and with the loss of the main event, the North Carolina athletic commission cancelled the event, leaving Rua without an event to compete on.
Rua finally returned to action at Impact FC 2 - The Uprising: Sydney, where he faced The Ultimate Fighter alumni Jeremy May. At 4:12 of the first round, Rua submitted May with a Guillotine Choke, winning his fourth straight bout.
Personal Life
Murilo and longtime girlfriend Ana married on October 8, 2004 in Curitiba, Brazil. The couple have a son that was born in August 2008.
Championships and Accomplishments
Mixed Martial Arts
- Former EliteXC middleweight champion
