Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
UFC Fight Night takes place this weekend, featuring an intriguing light heavyweight bout between James Te Huna and Mauricio ’Shogun’ Rua. Both fighters are in need of a win badly, so they should be training harder than ever.
Coming into this co-main event, Rua is looking to rebound off a tough loss to Chael Sonnen. Rua was taken down and eventually submitted by Sonnen, which was probably his worst loss in his UFC tenure. Before this loss, Rua had some exciting wars with Brandon Vera, Dan Henderson and Alexander Gustafsson. If Rua ever wants to remain competitive in this division again, he may need to switch up his strategies come fight night.
Te Huna comes into this bout also off a loss to Glover Teixeira. Like Rua, Te Huna was submitted in his last UFC appearance by a guillotine choke from Glover. It was a deflating loss for James as he was on a four-fight winning streak before the loss. He will look to get back some of that momentum against Rua. Te Huna holds knockout power in his hands, which is probably his best path to victory.
Both of these fighters’ jobs could be at stake, so they will need to have an impressive showing. Shogun needs to show fans the old Rua, the one that earned himself a light heavyweight championship belt from Lyoto Machida. For Te Huna, he needs to get back to that aggressive style that won him so many fights in a row.
Jeremy Green is a MMA and NFL contributor at RantSports. You can follow him on Facebook, Twitter, or Google Plus.
