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Ninja is Taking it Personally! As PRIDE 23 is just around the corner, "The Brazilian Beat" takes a side step to open space for the Brazilian fighters to perform their best at the Tokyo Dome ring at November 24th. What better way to start getting the feeling of the biggest event in Japan this year than with the hot blood and non-stop style of Chute Boxe rising star Murilo "Ninja" Rua? In his fifth fight in PRIDE, Ninja will be taking part in probably the most awaited and anticipated fight of his career facing off against former Brazilian Top Team member and RINGS champion Ricardo Arona. 
With a vicious style characterized by an unbelievable cardio condition that literally creates a nightmare for his opponents, combined with a often underrated ground game, Murilo Rua has been game in all of his fights and is reported to be in the best shape of his life. If you get to know Ninja, you'll know that he doesn't say things just for the sake of promotion, so when he says this fight is personal, you better believe it. Will he be able to soundly defeat Ricardo Arona as he wants? We'll find out on November 24th, but one thing is certain, once both Brazilian fighters enter the ring the action will be guaranteed and the fans will be treated to one of the best bouts in recent times. As we have interviews with Minotauro and Vanderlei coming soon, FCF opens the door and let Ninja walks in as the heat for PRIDE 23 is already on! FCF: Your last fight was against Mario Sperry at PRIDE 20, in what was considered one of the best fights of the year. Why did you get so touched after the fight? Ninja: The reason I got so touched was due to all the pressure involving this fight. I suffered a lot and trained a lot for this fight, and I was also coming from an injury so I really suffered during the training for this fight and since thank God I won I cried out of happiness. To tell you the truth I'm sort of a crybaby [Laughs] FCF: Well, I know what you mean [Laughs] what do you think now of Sperry as a fighter? Ninja: I think he is a very technical athlete. He is very tight in his positions on the ground, and he isn't usually a very aggressive fighter but he showed a lot of aggressiveness in his last PRIDE fight. He has a lot of heart, as he showcased in our fight and he is a truly professional athlete. He is one of the best fighters in the NHB scene for sure. FCF: For sure. Did you expect him to trade strikes with you like he did in the fight? Ninja: To be totally honest with you Eduardo, I expect anything when I'm in the ring. It ain't no use in saying what I think the guy will do in the fight, I don't think about it! I just go in there and see what he'll do. I react according to what he'll do in the fight. If we have to fight on the ground, we'll do it, if we have to trade, we'll do it as well. FCF: What do you think prevented you from getting the knockout in that fight? Ninja: In fact I think I could've been a bit more aggressive maybe. FCF: Man! Even more aggressive? [Laughs] Ninja: [Laughs] I don't know what happened in fact, cause I tried everything there. In fact, he is a great professional and a very good athlete. FCF: After this fight you kept training hard for several months without being called to fight again in PRIDE. How was it for you to train hard all that time and don't get to fight? Ninja: Man, I was even getting a little upset to tell you the truth. I wasn't understanding why they weren't calling me and I was getting upset. I beat Sperry and he was fighting but I wasn't, so I was getting a bit pissed with it, but now let's demonstrate against Arona that I should be fighting. FCF: When you train for several months without fighting do you start to lose your motivation? You train a lot, so how do you keep your motivation when you're not fighting? Ninja: I train a lot Eduardo. I'm serious. Only God knows how hard I train. I give my best in what I do cause I have to be the best. There's no way I'm going to stop training, fighting or not, I need to be always training more and more, and in this fight against Arona things will be tough for him cause I'm in a great condition. I'm with great cardio. FCF: You have been expressing your desire to face Arona for a long time now, and this fight is finally about to happen. Why do you want to face him so badly? Ninja: I'll be honest with you. In my opinion he is an athlete that doesn't respect the other fighters and he showed it on the magazines with the remarks he had about Vanderlei Silva and me. I didn't think it was fair. He wasn't respecting Vanderlei as the champion he is. There's no way to talk about Silva, it's more than proven the great fighter he is. He doesn't respect an athlete like he takes away my merit from defeating Sperry, saying I was lucky. I got pissed, but we're going to settle it on the ring. I'm willing to check out if he is that good as he says he is. He already backed down in some of his statements, and I'm going to put my head on the line to see how things will roll inside the ring. FCF: Do you enter this fight with a personal motivation? What do you think of Arona as a fighter? Ninja: I don't think anything about him as a fighter in fact! My thing is to kick his ass. I want to hit him a lot and send him to the hospital, this is the only thing I'll say about him. FCF: Do you believe he will stand up and trade strikes with you? Or are you expecting this to turn into a ground war? Ninja: I think we'll have a taste of some stand up trading, and I think this will be very good for me [Laughs] I'm prepared to see how things will end up. Let's wait. FCF: Speaking about strikes, your Muay Thai seems way better now than in your MECA days or even your first PRIDE fight. Do you also feel this way? Ninja: Yeah! Seriously! Now I have the best Muay Thai I ever had in my life. I have been training a lot of Muay Thai. I have been sparring a lot with Vanderlei and Anderson, and they're all great there in the academy. Anderson is a Muay Thai phenomenon and Vanderlei has a punch that if he hits you it'll rip your head off! We're nicknaming him the headhunter, and the hammer [Laughs] I think he will kill Kanehara! FCF: After this fight at PRIDE 23, what are Murilo Ninja's plans as a fighter? Ninja: I want to fight in December again. I hope they'll call me. FCF: You are clearly one of the fighters that train the hardest in the whole NHB scene. How was your preparation for this fight? What did you emphasize the most? Ninja: I trained a lot for this fight. I trained a lot of Muay Thai. I did a lot of weight training and got myself a personal trainer, I have been dedicating myself a lot now and I'm great cardio condition. FCF: Your brother Mauricio Shogun just did his NHB debut at MECA scoring an amazing win! How was it to stay in your brother's corner and witness his debut? Ninja: I was already expecting my brother's debut to be like that, cause he has been training a lot. I train with Rafael Cordeiro so I also train with him, and I teach classes with him at my academy, so I was expecting him to perform like he did cause he has great cardio as well. Thank God he got this win and I think he could have a good future in the UFC. I think he could do well if he fought against Murilo Bustamante. I think if the UFC calls him to fight there he would do some good fights for the UFC fans in his division. I think he is ready to fight abroad. FCF: What is tougher for you, to be inside the ring fighting or be at your brother's corner Ninja: Man! I don't know! Probably both things, it was like I was there fighting with my brother in his fight [Laughs] I got a bit nervous during my brother's fight, but it's part of the game. FCF: Any final message for your fans? Ninja: You guys can be sure that I'll do one of the best fights of the night. I won't lack heart in the fight. I guarantee it. FCF: Thanks a lot and the best of luck! Ninja: Thanks Eduardo! Take care. |
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