Maurício "Shogun" Rua's 10 Greatest Knockouts

Of Shogun's 19 victories, 16 have come by knockout. They are what won him the Pride Middleweight Grand Prix and the UFC light-heavyweight championship of the world.

What makes his knockouts so sensational is the manner in which he achieves them. Just look at one of his highlight reels. Soccer kicks, face stomps, overhand rights and vicious ground and pound are just some of the strikes that define his brutality.

These are the top 10 knockouts of his career.

No. 10 Rafael "Capoeira" Freitas

It was November 8, 2002 and the debut of Rua's professional career.

His opponent was Rafael Freitas, who was also making his debut. It only took four minutes for the muay thai expert to stop his opponent with a head kick. It would be the start of a young fighter's career that would go on to to define the style in which he fought.

No. 9 Cyrille Diabate

Photo from Sherdog

After breaking his arm in his previous fight versus Mark Coleman, Shogun was scheduled to fight dangerous kickboxer Cyrille Diabate. The 6'6" fighter from France as riding a four-fight win streak, but his opponent was not going to let him last very long.

He proved his point and knocked his opponent out in five minutes. A stomp to the face finished the job, and the replay showed how precise and effective his strikes really are.

No. 8 Hiromitsu Kanehara

Less than a minute into a fight, Kanehara found himself on the wrong end of a left straight and fell to the canvas. Shogun preceded to engage the Rings veteran on the ground with stomps and kicks.

Kanehara didn't make it back to his feet and after a nonstop attack from Shogun, the referee stopped the bout and mercifully saved the fighter from further punishment.

No. 7 Akihiro Gono

It was his seventh professional bout and his second fight in the Pride Fighting Championships. The 22-year-old was part of a Bushido event featuring four matches between fighters from Brazil and Japan.

It was 1-1 between the two countries' fighters and Shogun was the one to break the tie and take the lead. He defeated Gono after he landed a devastating knee and followed up with a soccer kick leaving his unconscious opponent on the canvas.

No. 6 Alistair Overeem I

After coming off a "Fight of the Year" candidate versus Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Shogun was scheduled to face Dutch kickboxer Alistair Overeem in the Pride Grand Prix Semifinal.

Prior to the bout, Overeem had submitted Igor Vovchanchyn and Vitor Belfort both by guillotine choke. All of his victories had come by knockout or submission.

Overeem was able to control the Chute Box member early on and threatened him with takedowns and guillotine chokes. Shogun eventually got him down, and it was all downhill for Overeem from that point on. Shogun moved to full mount and pounded Overeem out.

No. 5 Rampage Jackson

There aren't too many better displays of muay thai and knees from the clinch than what Shogun used to destroy Quinton "Rampage" Jackson in the opening round of the Pride Grand Prix.

Rampage showed a lot of heart taking knee after knee to his midsection, which broke several of them. Less than five minutes into the bout, the referee had to jump in to save Rampage from further punishment.

This loss forced Rampage to seek out better training and is what led him to Juanito Ibarra, who trained him when he won the UFC light-heavyweight title.

These two have a very good chance of meeting again very soon.

No. 4 Alistair Overeem II

Less than two years after they first met, Shogun and Overeem met for a rematch to determine who really is the best fighter between the two. Overeem was riding a two-fight losing streak going into this fight, and he wasn't given much of a chance against the best light-heavyweight in the world.

After taking Overeem down, Shogun stayed in guard until he stood up and unloaded a massive right hand that put Overeem to sleep. He followed up with a left and right before the referee called a stop to the bout.

This is arguably Shogun's greatest one punch knockout.

No. 3 Chuck Liddell

It had been a long time before fans had seen Shogun in top form, but this fight was going to change any perception people had of him.

Liddell was more motivated than ever going into this fight, and Shogun had previously defeated Mark Coleman but didn't look very good in doing so.

Four minutes into the bout, Shogun connected on a hard right hand that sent the UFC Hall-of-Famer to the canvas. Ground and pound ensued, and referee Mario Yamasaki stopped the fight.

No. 2 Ricardo Arona

Arona was on a four-fight win streak going into this Pride Grand Prix final bout. He was coming off a brutal stoppage of Japanese star Kazushi Sakuraba and an upset win over Wanderlei Silva.

Shogun was on an eight-fight win streak and had beaten Alistair Overeem earlier that evening to advance to the finals. He was also a teammate to the opponent Arona had beaten earlier.

Shogun opened up the bout with a tornado kick and it didn't take more than three minutes before he had his second consecutive knockout of the night.

This fight won him the Middleweight Grand Prix and also solitified his spot as the "Fighter of the Year" in 2005.

No. 1 Lyoto Machida

After their controversial first bout that went five rounds, Rua was motivated and fired up to get the job done quickly in the rematch. It didn't take very long.

The first bout was fought almost exclusively with leg kicks, and Machida's body showed it. Rua went into this fight looking to use his hands more than he had in the first meeting.

Midway through the first round, he caught Machida with a hard right and dropped him. He jumped into full mount and followed up with several strikes to his opponent's head before he was knocked out, calling a stop to the bout and making him the new UFC light-heavyweight champion.