Heating Up for Pride 30:
Ninja Prepared to Get Back into Winner's Circle
By Eduardo Alonso

After eight months off and watching his younger brother tear up the PRIDE ranks, Murilo "Ninja" Rua is back, eager and ready to start a new phase of competition and push his career into the next gear. FCF caught up with the 25-year-old fighter on the eve of his PRIDE 30 return against 5-12 Hot 2 Handle veteran Murad Chunkaiev.

Murila 'Ninja' Rua FCF:  You're finally back in PRIDE, and this time are fighting a Golden Glory fighter, Murad Chunkaiev. What do you know about your opponent?
MR:    I'm very happy to be back in PRIDE. He comes from a great team and he's seems to look more for takedowns, and be considerably aggressive. Anyway, I'm well trained and ready to pursue the win.

FCF:  Your last fight was against Quinton Jackson at PRIDE 29 last February and it was kind of controversial, where you lost by split decision in a fight many thought you won. How do you feel about this fight, did you feel the judges' decision was unfair?
MR:    I had around one month to train for the fight 'cause before that, I was doing a seminar tour in the USA. I thought it was a tough fight, a "busy fight," where I ended up doing more of his stuff, and that's a lot of wrestling, which is not my main thing. Despite that, I think I pressed the fight harder and deserved to win the bout. I beat him by a very slim margin, but I beat him.

FCF:  During the last few months, there was a lot of talk about you fighting in Korea and also in the UFC, but you ended up not fighting at all. Would you say that this frustrated or motivated you even more?
MR:    I'm a fighter and my biggest joy is to be inside the ring, however, to participate in any MMA show is not only up to me. So, when there are no fights coming up, I keep training hard and take the chance to do seminars across the world - it's part of the game.

FCF:  What happened that you ended up not fighting in the UFC, when it really seemed that could happen? Do you still want to fight there someday?
MR:    To tell you the truth, I don't participate in negotiations, so I don't know what happened. If fighting in the UFC becomes as interesting as fighting in PRIDE, I would gladly fight there.

FCF:  Your brother, Mauricio "Shogun," surprised many and just won the PRIDE Middleweight Grand Prix. Although few thought he could, you always said he was going to win it, and you were the one responsible for his decision to become a professional MMA fighter. With all that, what did his championship mean to you?
MR:    This was truly a dream come true, not only for him, but for me as well! I have been by his side, following all his steps and giving him incentive ever since his first day in MMA. He deserved that belt. I think he took on the toughest guys in the weight class, and proved he is the biggest name in this weight class right now.

FCF:  Do you think that the Pride GP Belt your brother won can open even more doors for both you and the Chute Boxe team?
MR:    Without a doubt. It will open many doors for both me and the team, and with that we will be able to show our training and our work more and more.

FCF:  You are a jiu-jitsu brown belt, and Shogun just got promoted to black belt. Do you have a goal of becoming a jiu-jitsu black belt as well, or this is something that doesn't concern you?
MR:    I'm a jiu-jitsu brown belt, and to become a black belt is the dream of every fighter who dedicates himself to the sport. However, I think I need to dedicate myself some more with the gi on to become a black belt.

FCF:  There has been a lot of talk about a fight between you and Paulo Filho, from the Brazilian Top Team. What do you think about this whole situation? Is there any feud going on between you two? Would you like to fight him?
MR:    In Brazil, there has been a lot of talk about a fight between us, however, I'm very focused on this coming fight, and then later I can think about Paulo Filho. But, fighting him would be a pleasure. There wasn't any feud going on between us before, but now there is. I would really like for this fight to happen.

FCF:  Besides your career as fighter, you have been building a good reputation as a seminar instructor, having traveled through many countries in the past few years. What it means to you, to teach fighters from other countries?
MR:    Thank God the seminars are growing more and more as time goes by. I have only to thank everybody because of the great way everybody treats me wherever I go. I can say I have not only been giving seminars, but also making friends. In the past three years, I have developed a great friendship with August Wallen, who's a very good fighter and a great instructor in Sweden; Robbie Oliver, also an MMA fighter in the UK; and the Schiavo brothers in France, to name a few. I can truly say that those are great personal friends already, besides many other nice people we have met. The list is huge. It's always a great pleasure to teach people that believe in my techniques, but in the same way I teach them, I also learn a lot of good stuff from them.

FCF:  Is it true that you and your brother Shogun may be coming back to the USA for seminars in January?
MR:    It's true. In our first U.S. seminar tour we were treated very well and it was a success, so now we are organizing a new tour with a bigger number of cities and seminars. We have been receiving a lot of proposals, so it'll be tough to attend to all requests and likely we will have to split them into several tours focusing on one region at a time. But we love being in the USA, and we are truly looking forward to it. First time we went Shogun had only fought in Bushido, and now he is the GP champion! It will be interesting to see the reactions.

FCF:  There has also been a lot of talk about other projects you two have been running, such as your own fighting gear company, the making of instructional DVDs and such. Anything that you could comment on now?
MR:    Well, those rumors are true. Our fighting gear brand is almost ready, and we have been studying some proposals to do an instructional DVD series about MMA, as well as a documentary piece on our training and life. Many good things may happen soon.

FCF:  Thanks for the interview and the best of luck in the fight!
MR:    Thank you Eduardo!
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