Ninja Rua looking to regain EXC title.

[Brutus]

Ninja

PDG: Since your last fight in Cage Rage; what have you been doing?

NINJA: Training hard, spending a lot of time with my family, especially with my wife Ana. She is pregnant and in three months we will have a new boy in my family, so I want a beautiful victory in Hawaii for them.

PDG: Congratulations!

NINJA: Thank you.

PDG: Are you training with your new camp?

NINJA: Yes, very soon we will have pictures of the place to send to you; right now there is some small details to take care of before we make an official opening to friends and students.

PDG: How many fighters are at the new gym?

NINJA: We already have 10 professional fighters training there and around 50 students.

PDG: What is your training schedule like? Days, hours, workouts?

NINJA: For this fight I trained MMA every morning from Monday to Saturday. In the afternoon I mixed in Boxing and Wrestling and then 3 times a week, Jiu-Jitsu in the evening.

PDG: Your next opponent is Tony Bonello; what do you know about him?

NINJA: I know that he is a good fighter, from Australia. He has been undefeated for a long time, until now; very soon his profile will change.

PDG: What are your advantages and dis-advantages going into this fight?

NINJA: I am training hard for all situations, a lot of ground game and Jiu-Jitsu and my Boxing is ok. I want a KO.



PDG: How disappointed are you that you will not be fighting on the CBS-EliteXC card on May 31st?

NINJA: I had a small injury in my foot, but now everything is ok, EliteXC told me that there will be three more CBS-EliteXC events live this year. For sure I will be in one of them; maybe more than one, I hope so. One of them could be for the EliteXC belt; I want it back, why not.

PDG: How many more fights would you like to have this year?

NINJA: This one in Hawaii and maybe more two or three more times. Now that EliteXC has a partnership with DREAM and Cage Rage; I can fight in Europe, the USA or Japan. It is good to have so many doors open in this business.

PDG: How is your brother, 'SHOGUN' doing after his latest surgery?

NINJA: He is ok, very soon he will start to train again. First Boxing and then Jiu-Jitsu and Muay-Thai. I think that we will see him back in the UFC next September or November.

PDG: When and how did you and your brother become involved with fighting?

NINJA: I always enjoy Martial Arts, when I was young I looked for an academy to practice self defense and then I found Muay-Thai. From that moment I saw that I wanted to become a fighter. Shogun came with me to the academy a few months later and followed in my steps.

PDG: If you were not a fighter....What would you be doing for a profession?

NINJA: I would probably be involved with sports or following in my father steps, working with sales.

PDG: You are 'NINJA' and your brother is 'SHOGUN'; how did you those nicknames become?

NINJA: When I was 14 in the academy, someone told me that I was fast and aggressive like a NINJA, I liked the nickname. When my brother started to train someone told us that we needed find a nickname for him, SHOGUN came very natural because we already had a NINJA in the family (laughs....).

PDG: Do you play any video games?

NINJA: No, I don’t like video games; I prefer to watch TV or a good movie. Now I am following the National Soccer Tournament on TV and sometimes in the Stadium. Our Team is on the first division, its name is CORITIBA.

PDG: Is there anything else that you would like to add?

NINJA: After this fight probably I will fight for the belt in the Cage Rage. I am giving my best and I hope to have a new opportunity to fight for the EliteXC belt in 2008. I'm very happy in the EliteXC, the sport of MMA is growing up very fast and I'm proud to be a part of it. I hope to have all the support from my fans next June 14th.

Ninja put on one hell of a fight a few years back against Rampage. if he can bring that type of fight to EXC I could see him regaining the belt.

but please Ninja........no more crying.

[ArMnHC]

good for Ninja, but he has asperations to win back a title that still really doesnt mean anything right now...if he ever wants to beat Lawler though, he'd better be in shape the next time.