UFC 128 Fight Card: With a Win, Is Shogun the Greatest Light Heavyweight Ever?

With a win over Jon Bones Jones Saturday night at UFC 128, Mauricio Shogun Rua will improve his record to 20-4 and be considered by some to be the greatest Light Heavyweight of all time, but is he? 

Absolutely! 

Now, keep in mind, this is if he defeats Jones. According to Vegas and much of the MMA Media, he is the underdog going in to this fight, despite being the champion.

When I think about the Greatest Light Heavyweights Of All Time, I think of champions, who fought the best competition and had longevity as one of the top fighters in the world at their weight class.

Fighters that fit that criteria are: Tito Ortiz, Chuck Liddell, Randy Couture, Wanderlei Silva, Dan Henderson and Shogun Rua.

While Randy Couture (19-10) and Dan Henderson (27-8) certainly deserve to be in the discussion of Greatest Light Heavyweights of all time (Couture a two-time UFC Light Heavyweight Champion and Henderson the final 205 lbs champion in Pride, as well as the current Strikeforce Light Heavyweight champ), they both spent much of their primes in other divisions: Couture fought at Heavyweight and Henderson fought at Middleweight.

Everyone agrees that Tito Ortiz (15-8-1) is past his prime. He hasn’t won a fight since 2006, but after defeating Wanderlei Silva to win the UFC Light Heavyweight title in 2000, Tito successfully defended the title five consecutive times against very good competition. He lost the belt to Randy Couture and was knocked out twice by Chuck Liddell after that.

Due to injuries, Tito hasn’t fought much in the last four years and when he does, his hand is not getting raised when the fight is over.

Wanderlei Silva (33-10-1-1) dominated the opposition while in Pride. He won the 205 lbs Grand Prix Tournament in 2003. He was the Pride 205 lbs champ and defended that title four times. He’s beaten many big name fighters, but he has losses against three of the fighters I mentioned above: Chuck Liddell, Tito Ortiz and Dan Henderson. He’s lost five of his last seven fights.

Chuck Liddell (21-8) was the UFC Light Heavyweight champ from 2005-2007. He defeated Randy Couture (twice), Tito Ortiz (twice) and Wanderlei Silva, but he was 0-2 versus Quinton Rampage Jackson (both losses during his prime) and lost five of his last six fights, including a knockout loss to Shogun.

Many people have said Shogun Rua was Jon Jones before Jon Jones was Jon Jones—it’s true, he was the young up-and-comer who looked unstoppable: He won the 2005 Pride 205lb; Grand Prix Tournament by defeating Rampage Jackson, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, current Strikeforce Heavyweight champ, Alistair Overeem and Ricardo Arona. 

He had a rocky UFC debut in losing to Forrest Griffin, but unlike most of the other fighters who came over from Pride, including Wanderlei Silva, he was eventually able to duplicate the success he had in Pride by becoming the UFC Light Heavyweight champion. 

Shogun has four losses on his record.

One was to Babalu Sobral early in his career. The next was to Mark Coleman. The fight was actually fought at Heavyweight. 

Shogun dislocated his elbow during the fight and was forced to take the loss. The next loss was to Forrest Griffin in his UFC debut; Shogun injured his knee while training for the fight and because of that, he wasn’t able to put in his normal full training camp. He re-injured the knee during the fight.

His last loss was a very controversial decision to Lyoto Machida. Many people, fighters included, thought Shogun won the fight. Shogun knocked Machida out in the rematch to win the UFC Light Heavyweight title.

When he came over from Pride, Shogun was widely considered as the No. 1 Light Heavyweight in the world.

There is rationalization for three of his four losses. He has battled back from knee injuries and is once again the No. 1 ranked Light Heavyweight in the world. He is one of the most devastating strikers in MMA history.

With a win over Jon Jones Saturday, he will have a great case for the No. 1 ranked Light Heavyweight of all time. 

In my opinion, that’s exactly what he will be.