Dana White hopes Shogun Rua will retire following TKO loss to Paul Craig at UFC 255

UFC president Dana White hopes that former light heavyweight champion Shogun Rua will retire following his TKO loss to Paul Craig at UFC 255.

In November 2019, Rua and Craig met at UFC Fight Night: Blachowicz vs. Jacare and fought to a rare split draw in an excellent fight. Since then, Craig has picked up a submission win over Gadzhimurad Antigulov while Rua defeated Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. With both men fighting and winning this past July on the UFC Fight Island: Whittaker vs. Till card, it made sense to match them up for a rematch before 2020 was over.

Despite fighting to a draw in the first fight, the betting odds for the rematch favored Craig to get his hand raised, and he did just that. After a competitive first round, Craig was able to take Rua to the ground in the second round and dominate him there. He got into a dominant position in back mount and then started raining down punches until the referee was forced to step in and stop the fight due to TKO, handing Craig a huge win over Rua.

The loss was the sixth time that Rua has been finished with strikes in his career, and following UFC 255, White said that’s the last time he hopes Rua steps into the Octagon. Speaking to the media, White said that he hopes Rua will retire after the Craig loss.

Dana says he hopes tonight was Shogun's last fight #UFC255

— Amy Kaplan (@PhotoAmy33) November 22, 2020

Dana says he hopes tonight was Shogun’s last fight #UFC255

Dana says Shogun has two fights on his deal #UFC255

— Amy Kaplan (@PhotoAmy33) November 22, 2020

Dana says Shogun has two fights on his deal #UFC255

Rua is now 37 years old and yes, there are old fighters on the UFC roster, but few have been in the number of crazy wars that Rua has been in over his past 20 years in the fight game. Rua is a sure-fire UFC Hall of Famer when it’s all said and done, but after getting absolutely smashed by Craig at UFC 255, the end may be sooner than envisioned.

Do you agree with Dana White that Shogun Rua should retire?