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Citing sources close to the UFC, the report states that the fight has gained steam in recent days and is expected to be finalized soon.
The two met in late 2007 in Rua's UFC debut. Coming in after a lauded career in Pride, Rua was considered by many to be the #1 light heavyweight fighter in the world. Griffin, the Ultimate Fighter season one winner, was expected to be a tough challenge, but one that Rua would get through to get a shot at the UFC Champ.
However, Griffin shocked the world with a fairly one-sided fight, going into the third round ahead on the scorecards and finishing Shogun with a rear naked choke.
Since that fight, both fighters have captured and lost the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship. Griffin has had a rougher road, losing to Rashad Evans and Anderson Silva in back-to-back fights, but he turned things around with a decision win over Tito Ortiz. He then picked up another decision win over Rich Franklin at UFC 126 in February after a 15-month injury layoff.
Shogun remained out of action after the loss to Griffin until January of 2009. After a rough win over Mark Coleman, Shogun knocked out Chuck Liddell to get a shot at then Champ Lyoto Machida. Their first but was one by Machida by a very controversial split decision, and in the rematch last year Shogun knocked him out to finally capture the UFC title.
However, in his first title defense, Shogun was battered and beaten by 23-year-old Jon Jones last month, losing by TKO in the third round.
UFC Rio will be headlined by the Middleweight Championship bout between Anderson Silva and the last man to hold a win over him, Yushin Okami. It takes place from the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on August 27.
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Penick's Analysis: I love this fight. Forrest had to get out some of the ring rust in the fight with Franklin, but if he's able to get back into the cage without a lengthy layoff here, this should be a very good fight. I don't know what Shogun we're going to see, because part of the loss to Jones was that he was simply made to look really bad. That came because of Jones' ten-second-in flying knee to the jaw, and Shogun wasn't the same from then on. With Forrest's win over Shogun having been continually altered with revisionist history saying he beat a "lesser" Shogun, this will be an opportunity for him to pull it off again. For Shogun, it's a loss he can attempt to avenge. It's really a great rematch, and one I think we would have possibly seen for a title eventually had Jones not been called upon earlier than expected. But really, in front of the Brazilian fans, this will be another really good fight for the card, and it vaults the winner right into the thick of things at the top of this crazy 205 lb. division.
UPDATE: UFC President Dana White has confirmed the fight for the UFC Rio card in comments made to MMAFighting.com.
[Forrest Griffin art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
Andre Amade Dean Amasinger Jimmy Ambriz Matt Andersen Alex Andrade
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