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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
The UFC's return to Brazil for the first time since 1998 comes next Saturday night with UFC 134, but on Wednesday there was a bit of a scare that the event may be losing its co-main event.
Rumors began around Brazilian forums and spread to Twitter and Facebook that Mauricio "Shogun" Rua had re-injured his knee and would be out of his bout with Forrest Griffin on the card. However, Tatame.com has now reported quotes from Rua's manager squashing those rumors.
"His knee is absolutely perfect, there's no injury," said Rua's manager Eduardo Alonso. "I don't know where people take that from. He's training hard, following the training scheduled with Rafael Cordeiro, Renato Babalu [Sobral] and all the team... He's very excited [for] this fight."
With that assurance, fans can breathe a sigh of relief and get back to anticipating next week's card from Rio de Janeiro.
Penick's Analysis: I hope it's not a smoke screen comment from Alonso, but I don't think it is. If "Shogun" had injured his knee again, it may have marked the end of his career, and that's not something anyone would have wanted to see. I love this rematch between Rua and Griffin, and can't wait to see it, so hopefully he stays healthy throughout this next week and those rumors were indeed just rumors.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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