UFC 128 Fight Card: Power Rankings of Shogun Rua's 16 Career TKO Wins

It isn’t often that a mixed martial arts legend and current champion goes into a fight as the underdog at sports books, but that’s exactly what Mauricio “Shogun” Rua is facing at UFC 128. Jon “Bones” Jones may be the betting favorite at the moment, but he has never faced someone with the knockout power and skill of Shogun Rua.

Rua has made a career of not just beating, but completely destroying some of the world’s top-ranked fighters at 205 pounds. He has done so in Pride and the UFC and has earned his place as the consensus No. 1 light heavyweight on the planet.

Jones will have the advantage with his UFC-record 84.5” reach, but Mauricio Rua’s technique and knockout power are an extraordinarily dangerous combination. His knockout victory over previously undefeated champion Lyoto Machida is a reminder that Shogun can end a fight at any time.

To illustrate that point, let’s look back on his 16 career victories by TKO as we power rank each win according to a combination of a three factors:

• Opponent skill level
• Importance of the fight
• Damage inflicted by knockout

16. Shogun Vs. Eric Wanderlei at IFC: Global Domination

In his International Fighting Championship debut, Mauricio Rua faced Eric Wanderlei in the IFC “Global Domination” tournament.

The bout marked Rua’s first fight outside of his home country of Brazil, as the tournament took place in Denver, CO, USA. It was also Eric Wanderlei’s MMA debut.

The first round of the fight was very competitive, as both fighters looked to finish. Shogun showed excellent ground skills as he slipped out of quite a few submission attempts from Wanderlei.

Shogun didn’t risk the fight going back to the ground in the second round, though, as he knocked Wanderlei out with a flurry of punches early in the round.

In the second round of the tournament held later in the night, Shogun lost the first fight of his career by submission to Renato “Babalu” Sobral.

15. Shogun Vs. Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos at Meca World Vale Tudo 9

A 7-3 Evangelista Santos was Shogun’s opponent in just the third fight of his career at Meca World Vale Tudo 9 in Aug. 2003.

The fight was a fast-paced, action-packed contest. Cyborg was at least matching, if not getting the better of Shogun on the feet—something he had not experienced yet in his young career.

But Rua saw the opportunity to bring the fight to the ground where he had a clear advantage. After working his way into the full mount position, Rua knocked out his future Chute Boxe teammate with a series of punches.

This was Shogun’s last appearance before he headed to compete in the IFC Global Domination tournament.

14. Shogun Vs. Angelo Antonio De Oliveira at Meca World Vale Tudo 8

The future UFC Light Heavyweight Champion faced another future Chute Boxe teammate at Meca World Vale Tudo 8. In his second pro fight, he was matched up with Angelo Antonio de Oliveira, who was making his professional MMA debut.

From the opening bell, it was clear that this fight wasn’t going to last long. Rua flew across the ring immediately and landed a flying knee before delivering knees from the clinch and kicks that seemed to stumble his opponent.

Rua seemed to slip on the mat and took de Oliveira down to stop any momentum that might have been had.

Shogun knew that the ground wasn’t the best place for him in this fight, though, as he quickly broke free of de Oliveira’s guard and got back to his feet. Not so wisely, his opponent didn’t follow.

Rua displayed what turned out to be one of his most dangerous skills, as he leaped in the air and attempted a flying foot stomp before reigning down punches from standing side control. As de Oliveira tried to scramble away, Shogun finishing him off with an onslaught of soccer kicks that literally knocked him clear out of the ring.

The referee stepped in at just 55 seconds, giving Shogun the shortest victory of his career.

13. Shogun Vs. Yasuhito Namekawa at Pride Bushido 5

After going 2-0 in his first two Pride Bushido events, Mauricio Rua was perhaps just one more impressive victory away from getting his chance in the big show on a main Pride card.

Shogun faced Yasuhito Namekawa at Pride Bushido 5 in Oct. 2004. As a six-year veteran of the sport, Namekawa was an interesting opponent for Shogun, who had mostly fought fellow young up-and-comers in his previous fights. Namekawa was also on a three fight win streak going into the event.

Rua used his devastating standup to knock Namekawa around the ring and delivered a number of punishing blows when he was on the ground.

One memorable strike that Shogun landed was when Namekawa was in the corner of the ring, trying to keep him away with his foot. Shogun slapped the foot aside and smashed Namekawa square in the face with a painful-looking soccer kick.

The fight was eventually stopped at 3:37, as Shogun hammered his turtled-up opponent with punches while he was stuck in the corner of the ring.

This impressive performance earned Shogun a chance to compete in a major Pride event for his next fight.

12. Shogun Vs. Akihiro Gono at Pride Bushido 2

After making a successful Pride debut at Bushido 1, Rua was set to face Akihiro Gono in Feb. 2004 at Bushido 2.

Gono was a 10-year veteran of the sport who had amassed a record of 12-1-4 in his previous fights outside of Pride, including a draw with Shogun’s brother, Murilo “Ninja” Rua.

At over nine minutes long, the battle was the longest of Shogun’s young career up to that point. It proved that he was able to go deep into fights and still have the same devastating power in his strikes that he has in the opening minutes.

Shogun picked Gono apart standing up, tagging him with three punches before delivering a devastating knee from the clinch that sent his opponent to the ground. It was at that point that Rua seized the opportunity, as he nearly punted Gono’s head out of the ring with two undefended soccer kicks.

The referee dove in to save Gono from any further damage, as Shogun’s hand was raised for the sixth win of his professional career.

11. Shogun Vs. Hiromitsu Kanehara at Pride 29

Shogun’s first appearance on Pride’s big stage came on Feb. 20, 2005 when he fought Hiromitsu Kanehara at Pride 29.

A former pro wrestler, Kanehara was coming off a three fight losing streak in which he lost fights to Wanderlei Silva, Mirko Cro Cop, and Alistair Overeem. Meanwhile, Rua was on a three fight winning streak and seemed eager to make a name for himself.

As the two fighters came together in the middle of the ring, Kanehara shot for a takedown, but Shogun displayed an excellent sprawl and was quickly able to take his opponent’s back.

Rua was unable to keep Kanehara controlled and the fight ended up back on the feet shortly after, but the message was sent that Shogun would not be taken down so easily.

Kanehara went for a left high kick but was unceremoniously knocked to his back with a right hand. From there, the Shogun technique of destruction was in full effect.

Using a series of leaping stomps and soccer kicks, Shogun was able to earn the knockout victory just 1:40 into the first round. The impressive start to his Pride career was on.

10. Shogun Vs. Akira Shoji at Pride Bushido 1

Mauricio Rua made his debut in the Pride organization in Oct. 2003, when he faced Akira Shoji at the inaugural Pride Bushida 1 event.

Shogun was coming off the first loss of his career to Renato Sobral just a month prior.

Shoji brought just an 11-8-5 record into the fight, but had already faced some of the best fighters on the planet, including Dan Henderson, Jeremy Horn, Ricardo Almeida, Paulo Filho, and Renzo Gracie.

The experience that Akira Shoji had was evident, as he was able to take Shogun to the ground early. Shogun attempted to escape and bring the fight back to the feet, but Shoji snatched his leg and looked to have applied a fight-ending kneebar.

Somehow, Shogun was able to escape the knee bar and instantly stood to his feet, where he knew he had a significant advantage.

The fight went back and forth with Shogun dominating the standup game, but Shoji brought Shogun down a few times. Shoji just wasn’t landing enough shots to do damage, though, and couldn’t finish his submission attempts.

The fight finally came to an end when Rua caught Shoji with an upper cut that knocked him down. Without thinking twice, he immediately followed up with a face stomp before the fight was stopped.

9. Shogun Vs. Mark Coleman at UFC 93

Many call this the worst-looking win Shogun ever had, but his knockout of Mark Coleman was important for a number of reasons.

First, it was the first win of Rua’s UFC career.

Second, Coleman had defeated Rua earlier in their careers in Pride. During that fight, Shogun’s arm was broken early in the first round when he fell awkwardly during a takedown from the former UFC champion. Obviously, Shogun wanted to avenge this loss.

But last, it was the first time in his career that Shogun had finished a fight past the second round. After the abysmal performance he put on against Forrest Griffin near the end of their fight, it was very important for Shogun to prove to the fans, and even himself, that his conditioning had improved.

The fight actually earned a $40,000 Fight of the Night bonus, but fans were critical of Shogun’s inability to more quickly put away a 44-year-old Coleman.

8. Shogun Vs. Rafael Capoeira at Meca World Vale Tudo 7

The month is November and the year is 2002. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua is making his mixed martial arts debut at Meca World Vale Tudo 7.

His opponent was a 29-year-old, Rafael Capoeira, who had a Jiu-Jitsu background and would look to bring the fight to the ground.

Capoeira did just that early in the first round, as he took Rua to the ground with ease and rode him around the ring. When it looked like Shogun was going to start looking for submissions from the bottom, Capoeira shot back to his feet.

This was a bad decision, as Shogun was clearly the better striker and landed countless big shots while chasing him around the ring.

It appeared obvious that this fight was leaning heavily in Shogun’s favor, and he finally finished it off with a devastating right high-kick to the head that knocked Capoeira flat out.

7. Shogun Vs. Cyrille Diabate at Pride Final Conflict Absolute

Coming off just the second loss of his career, to Mark Coleman, Shogun was anxious to get back in the cage.

His opponent was Cyrille Diabate, a French Muay Thai kickboxer who was making his Pride debut at Pride Final Conflict Absolute.  

Going into the fight, Shogun had publicly stated that he would attempt to keep the fight standing up to prove to everyone he could out-strike a Muay Thai champion. Diabate, of course, would also prefer to keep the fight on the feet.

Early in the fight, Diabate picked Shogun apart with his 81.5” reach, confidently landing a few jabs before throwing a flying knee.

Sensing that he couldn’t stand with such a dangerous striker, Shogun went against what he said and shot in, taking the kickboxer to the ground. Though they quickly got back to their feet, this seemed to throw Diabate’s timing off, as he now needed to be aware of the takedown.

From then on, it was all Shogun, as he dominated the standup before taking Diabate down again. Shogun used the takedown to quickly stand up and start delivering a furious flurry of soccer kicks and stomps that ended the fight.

6. Shogun Vs. Alistair Overeem at Pride Final Conflict 2005

The semifinal round of the Pride 2005 Middleweight Grand Prix tournament saw Mauricio “Shogun” Rua face future Strikeforce, Dream, and K-1 Champion, Alistair Overeem.

Overeem surprised many fans when he defeated former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Vitor Belfort in the opening round of the tournament. He then went on to do the same in the second round to the Ukraine’s Igor Vovchanchyn. Both submissions came by way of guillotine choke in the first round.

Overeem actually looked to have Rua early in the fight when he applied yet another guillotine, but Rua was able to stay calm and break free. He ended up in Overeem’s guard, which was a great advantage for him, as he was obviously the more skilled fighter on the ground.

Shogun did damage with his trademark soccer kicks and stomps, but his ground game was the most important thing in this victory.

After getting into side control, Shogun took mount and rained down a violent series of punches that completely overwhelmed Overeem. When Rua used his knee to trap one of Alistair’s arms, it was all over. He smashed him with a few more punches before the referee mercifully stopped the beating.

The win earned Shogun a spot in the finals of the tournament, as a bloodied and broken Overeem was helped to his feet by his team.

5. Shogun Vs. Alistair Overeem at Pride 33

Oops, he did it again.

Less than two years after completely decimating Alistair Overeem in the semi-final round of the Pride 2005 Middleweight Grand Prix tournament, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua met him again. This time, the battle took place in the United States at Pride 33.

Overeem was looking to get revenge for the beating he took in the previous fight. Unfortunately for him, the fight didn’t end much differently.

In fact, the beating might have been even worse even though the second fight barely lasted half as long as the first.

With Overeem on his back, Shogun dove into his guard repeatedly with overhand punches.The final one landed square, knocking Overeem clean out. He landed a few more shots, but the damage was done and the referee quickly stopped the fight, awarding Shogun his final victory in Pride.

Rua left Pride as the world’s consensus No. 1 ranked 205 pound fighter and would soon sign with the UFC.

4. Shogun Vs. Chuck Liddell at UFC 97

After a ridiculous run in Pride where he went 12-1, Shogun headed to the UFC and was widely considered the best in the world in the light heavyweight division.

The UFC had recently purchased Pride and many of the promotion’s fighters had made the move to the American-based promotion that was now indisputably the top MMA organization in the world.

But like many of the fighters who moved from Pride to the UFC around that time, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua struggled. Whether it was the new set of rules, the cage, or a seeming lack of desire, Shogun simply didn’t look like the same guy we remembered from Pride in his first two UFC fights.

A battle with former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, and a man that many consider to be the greatest of all time, changed all of that.

After taking some heat for not looking to be in great shape for his last fight against Mark Coleman, Shogun was in peak form for the Liddell fight.

Shogun caught Liddell with a lunging left hook that caught the former champion flush on the chin, sending him to his back in a daze. A few undefended hammerfists later, the fight was stopped, and the MMA world knew that the former top-ranked fighter was, indeed, back.

3. Shogun Vs. Ricardo Arona at Pride Final Conflict 2005

The finals of the Pride 2005 Middleweight Grand Prix was hugely important for both Shogun Rua and his entire team.

Ricardo Arona had shocked everyone earlier in the night when he defeated Shogun’s training partner and top-ranked 205 pound fighter Wanderlei Silva. The decision victory put Arona in the finals against Shogun, who had completely walked through his first three opponents.

In one of the most one-sided tournament final beatdowns in memory, Shogun decimated Arona from the opening bell. He eventually earned the TKO victory at just 2:54 in the first round as he smashed Arona with punches until the referee stepped in to stop the beating.

The win was the feather in the cap of Rua’s memorable 2005 year, a year which won him the Fighter of the Year award from Sherdog.com.

2. Shogun Vs. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson at Pride Total Elimination 2005

In the first round of the Pride 2005 Middleweight Grand Prix tournament, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua challenged Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.

This fight was personal for Shogun, as he believed that his brother, Murilo “Ninja” Rua, was robbed in a split decision loss he suffered at the hands of Jackson just two months before.

It was also his chance to truly make a name for himself by beating a top opponent who was known worldwide.

Rua did more than that as he delivered one of the worst beatings in MMA history.

Just seconds into the fight, Shogun landed a knee that broke Rampage’s ribs and was an obvious factor for the rest of the fight as Rampage didn’t look as strong as we had seen from him in the past. Though he put up a valiant effort, Rampage was fighting a man who was not going to be stopped from his goal of winning the tournament and putting his name on the map.

From the Muay Thai clinch, Shogun smashed Rampage’s face and already injured ribs with big knees. Rampage collapsed in the corner of the ring which left him open for even more punishment, as Shogun smoked him with soccer kicks to the head.

The referee finally stepped in at 4:47, as Shogun had avenged his brother’s loss and put his stamp the MMA world.

1. Shogun Vs. Lyoto Machida at UFC 113

Some fights were against great opponents, some fights were extremely important, and others saw Shogun deliver impressive knockouts to his opponents.

But none saw the combination of the three factors like the main event at UFC 113, when Mauricio Rua got his rematch with the undefeated Lyoto Machida.

Machida had defeated Shogun less than seven months prior, winning a unanimous, but extremely controversial, decision at UFC 104. The decision was so controversial, in fact, that UFC President Dana White decided to give Shogun the full $250,000 fight bonus he would have earned if he had won the fight.

But even more importantly, White worked on Shogun’s behalf to get him a rematch for the title.

In one of the most anticipated rematches in UFC history, Shogun became the first man to defeat Lyoto Machida when he knocked him out at 3:35 of the first round.

Shogun landed a huge right hand that floored the champion, but he didn’t panic and make a mistake trying to finish. Instead, he stayed calm and quickly took mount, where he was able to fire down with a barrage of punches that earned him the stoppage.

With the win, Shogun became the UFC Light Heavyweight Champion and took back his crown as the world’s top-ranked light heavyweight fighter.

At UFC 118, he will have his first opportunity to defend the title he worked for so long to earn, as he faces Jon “Bones” Jones.

Jones is listed as the betting favorite, but rest assured, this does not phase Shogun one bit. He has been the underdog in many fights in his career and he has shocked the world time and time again.

Do not sleep on the No. 1 ranked light heavyweight fighter in the world.

UFC 128: Shogun Rua vs Jon Jones: Results, News and More