Before they became UFC stars, Anderson Silva and Mauricio Rua were both star fighters for the famed Chute Boxe Academy, based out of Curitiba, Brazil.
The prospect of a match between Silva and Rua at one time seemed nearly unthinkable, but now it seems almost like simply a matter of time.
The History Between Silva and Rua
Although Silva and Rua trained at Chute Boxe together, they actually did so for only a relatively short amount of time.
Silva is more than six years older than Rua,. By the time Rua was emerging as a Chute Boxe star, Silva was already on his way out.
In fact, Anderson Silva credits gym rival Minotauro Nogueira for helping to keep him from retiring after he left Chute Boxe.
In any case, the truth is that while Silva and Rua have a healthy amount of respect for each other, they were not consistent training partners, and aren’t truly friends.
As much as Silva might not enjoy fighting fellow Brazilians as much as fighting people from other countries, Lyoto Machida is about the only fighter Silva says he will not fight.
For Rua’s part, he says the only fighter he won’t fight is his friend, Wanderlei Silva.
The real reason a fight between Rua and Anderson Silva never fought each other has little to do with affiliation, and much more to do with weight class.
Rua has been fighting at the 205 pound limit for years, while Silva used to fight as low as 168 pounds, and only recently has tested the waters at 205 pounds.
Recently, UFC president Dana White has been interviewed about Silva’s future and has said that he thinks a permanent move to 205 pounds may be in Silva’s near future.
Silva has pretty much cleared out all of the marketable matchups at 185 pounds, and ever since his seemingly effortless win over Forrest Griffin, people have gone so far as to say that Silva is truly the uncrowned champion of the 205 pound division.
With Rua now reigning over that division, a clash of titans seems imminent, especially if Rua can get by Rashad Evans later this year.
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