A light heavyweight tilt between former champion Mauricio Rua and Jimi Manuwa is in the works for the Nov. 8 card in Brazil, UFC Fight Night 56.
It was announced that the fight is being discussed on the UFC’s weekly news show, UFC Tonight which is live on FOX Sports 1 every Wednesday night.
‘Shogun’ (22-9) is 1-3 in his last four fights, coming off his second loss to the legend Dan Henderson in March. Following a dominant first two rounds, he was knocked out in the third and broke his nose. His lone win in the past two years was against James Te Huna last December.
Manuwa (14-1) went undefeated in mixed martial arts until March of this year, where he suffered his first professional career loss to No. 1 light heavyweight, Alexander Gustafsson. Some of Manuwa’s wins include finishes over former ranked fighter Ryan Jimmo, and retired fighters Cyrille Diabete and Kyle Kingsbury.
The fight’s placement on the card is unknown, but most likely would be featured on the main card.
UFC Fight Night 56 is part two of a double-header, with UFC Fight Night 55 taking place earlier that day in Australia. The event takes place at Ginasio Municipal Tancredo Neves in Uberlandia, Brazil, on Nov. 8, 2014.
The only other fight that takes place is another pivotal light heavyweight matchup between Ovince Saint Preux and Raphael Cavalcante.