Mauricio “Shogun” Rua is heading into enemy territory to face a hungry up-and-coming fighter.
Officials announced Tuesday that the former UFC light heavyweight champion will fight Australia’s own Tyson Pedro at UFC Adelaide on Dec. 2 at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre. The bout was first reported by ESPN.
This will be Rua’s first fight since seeing a three-fight win streak snapped at this past July. At UFC Hamburg, “Shogun” was knocked out in 89 seconds by Anthony Smith. The loss dropped Rua’s UFC record to an even 9-9 and his overall record to 25-11. Rua, 36, last fought in Australia on Dec. 7, 2013 when he recorded a 63-second KO of James Te-Huna at a show in Brisbane.
The 27-year-old Pedro (7-2) had an impressive start to his UFC career, finishing his first two opponents inside of a round. He submitted Khalil Rountree by rear-naked choke, and then defeated Paul Craig by TKO. He’s gone 1-2 since, sandwiching a first-round submission ofSaparbek Safarov around a first-round submission loss to Ovince Saint Preux and a unanimous decision loss to Ilir Latifi.
Two previously reported bouts were also formally announced, a heavyweight bout between Junior dos Santos (19-5) and Tai Tuivasa (8-0), which is expected to serve as the event headliner, and another heavyweight tilt between Mark Hunt (13-13-1, 1 NC) and Justin Willis (7-1).
See the updated UFC Adelaide card below (bout order to be determined):
Junior dos Santos vs. Tai Tuivasa
Mark Hunt vs. Justin Willis
Mauricio Rua vs. Tyson Pedro
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