Mauricio "Shogun" Rua has long been heralded as one of the top guys in the sport for many years. In fact, the former PRIDE champion has been one of the few men in the history of the sport to gain notoriety at such a young age and make a succwssful transition to the UFC, winning the promotion's 205-pound title in the process. However, the Brazilian has fallen to 1-2 in his last three outings and has recently relinquished his light heavyweight title to the impeding and fast rising Jon "Bones" Jones. Now, Rua's future seems bleak due to some of his recent performances that have put the legend that was "Shogun" in serious doubt, though his former head trainer in Rafael Cordeiro will gladly like to invite Rua back under his wing and breathe life into his career once again. ...

On the cusp of one the most important fight of his career, a rematch with current Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem, Fabricio Werdum has the upper hand that most fighters cannot proclaim heading into the illustrious Grand Prix, which for the submission specialist begins in March. Among Werdum and Alistair, Antonio Silva, Fedor Emelianenko, Sergei Kharitonov, Brett Rogers, Josh Barnett, and Andrei Arlovski are among the competitors in the upcoming tournament, three of which Fabricio has beaten in recent competition. And for trainer Rafael Cordeiro, he believes that Werdum can shock the world once again, much like what the Brazilian did when he submitted the seemingly unbeatable Fedor Emelianenko last April. ...

As the World MMA Awards of 2010 begin to loom closer and closer, UFC middleweight fighter Wanderlei Silva has made no secret who's vote he will be casting in, for trainer of the year. Rafael Cordeiro, Silva's former trainer for his Chute Boxe days, tops the list. The two have reunited this year when "The Axe Murderer" made a successful debut in the 185-pound division, after a long and storied career n the light heavyweight division, defeating Michael Bisping at UFC 110 in Sydney, Australia, with Cordeiro in his corner. Assisting him in the weeks leading up to the fight, Silva has acknowledged that training again with whom he calls his "Master", Cordeiro has replicated the same success in other fighters and will now assist Silva in bringing back the old Chute Boxe team once again. ...

As the year is coming closer to an end, the now annual World MMA Awards, which is hosted by Fighters Only Magazine, has recently announced their finalists for the December 1st event, which will take place once again in Las Vegas, Nev., which has become a hot bed for all things fighting related. The 2009 event opened up to a large audience, and has become a propellant in the mixed martial arts world, opening up the eyes to a mainstream audience, by the community taking leaps and bounds in order to legitimize itself as not only a legitimate sport, but one that deserves that same sort of recognition that most others receive, here in these United States. ...