UFC 134 Fight Card: Power Ranking Shogun Rua's Career Victories

Is there any fighter in the UFC who’s harder to figure out than Mauricio “Shogun” Rua?

As Rua's rematch with Forrest Griffin tonight at UFC 134 draws closer, plenty of people have reflected on his hugely successful career as a fighter.

One of the most interesting aspects of that career is that his entire personality seems to shift on a fight-to-fight basis. Few fighters, in the prime of their careers, were capable of such wild swings—from devastating violence to relative passivity, from boundless energy to total exhaustion, from fiery intensity to pure flaccidity.

Sometimes, it’s hard to believe you’re watching the man who won the 2005 Pride Middleweight Grand Prix, the UFC light-heavyweight belt, and world championships in both Muay Thai and Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

Other times, it’s hard to believe he doesn’t have more hardware than he does.

The pattern is evident in his collection of wins as well as his entire career. That’s why it's particularly interesting to take a look at all of Shogun’s professional MMA victories to see where they rank against one another. 

The list begins with Shogun’s 2003 victory in the IFC. He had a few before that in Meca World Vale Tudo, but since some people consider vale tudo to be its own fighting style and thus not MMA per se, I’m leaving those three off the list.

Don’t like it? Sorry. Here, look, I’m playing my tiny violin for you. Listen. Isn’t it beautiful?

With those dulcet tones lilting in the background, please enjoy the slide show.

16. Erik Wanderley

When: Sept. 6, 2003
Where: IFC: Global Domination, Denver, Colo.
Result: TKO, Round 2

IFC light-heavyweight tournament quarterfinal. He lost in the semifinals to Renato “Babalu” Sobral.

15. Kazuhiro Nakamura

When: Dec. 31, 2006
Where: Pride Shockwave 2006, Japan
Result: Unanimous decision

Other than Shogun, the only men to defeat this longtime Pride veteran in that promotion were Josh Barnett, Wanderlei Silva, Dan Henderson, and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira.

14. Mark Coleman

When: Jan. 17, 2009
Where: UFC 93, Dublin, Ireland
Result: TKO, Round 3

An important win because Shogun needed to rebound after losing his UFC debut in a now-very-famous upset loss to Forrest Griffin, it also avenged Rua's loss to Coleman in Pride, a fight that ended when a freak injury dislocated Rua's elbow.

Still, though, this fight was tough to watch—a total sludgefest, with Rua and Coleman both gassing badly.

How this won fight-of-the-night honors, I’ll never know.

13. Yasuhito Namekawa

When: Oct. 14, 2004
Where: Pride Bushido 5, Japan
Result: TKO, Round 1

Shogun simply overwhelmed his opponent in this one and finished his evening's work in short order.

12. Akira Shoji

When: Oct. 5, 2003
Where:  Pride Bushido 1, Japan
Result:  KO, Round 1

It was the kind of classically brutal display that makes longtime MMA fans pine for the old days of Pride.

In his Pride debut, Shogun finished seasoned veteran in Shoji with a firestorm of knees and punches, but the icing on the cake was the fight-ending stomp to Shoji's dome.

On the bright side for Shoji, he looked very nice while fighting in his undies.

11. Akihiro Gono

When:  Feb. 15, 2004
Where:  Pride Bushido 2, Japan
Result: TKO, Round 1

Gono is a very good fighter, and when he went nine minutes with Shogun before an epic soccer kick to the face closed the deal, it was the longest fight of Shogun's career to that point.

(Photo credit: Dream Stage Entertainment)

10. Cyrille Diabate

When:  Sept. 10, 2006
Where: Pride Final Conflict Absolute, Japan
Result:  TKO, Round 1

This one carried extra importance because it was the first fight after Rua dislocated his shoulder in the fight with Mark Coleman seven months before.

I’d say he showed he was fully healed, even if he didn’t use his arms to score the stoppage win (it came by stomps).

9. Hiromitsu Kanehara

When: Feb. 20, 2005
Where: Pride 29, Japan
Result: TKO, Round 1

Shogun was at his absolute apex. It was a Muay Thai dervish of soccer kicks and flying stomps, and it was over in less than two minutes.

This fight also single-handedly makes the case that Rua could never be the same fighter in the more tightly controlled UFC as he was in the wild west of Pride.

8. Chuck Liddell

When: April 18, 2009
Where: UFC 97, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Result:  TKO, Round 1

Like Liddell-Wanderlei Silva before, this fight was pretty exciting but probably would have been more so a few years before.

At this point it was becoming pretty evident that Chuck’s best fights were sadly behind him.

(Photo credit: Houston Chronicle)

7. Alistair Overeem

When: Aug. 28, 2005
Where:  Pride Final Conflict 2005, Japan
Result: TKO, Round 1

In the Pride Middleweight Grand Prix semifinal, Rua took the 'Reem to the ground and pounded out the beefy Dutch kickboxer.

6. Kevin Randleman

When: Oct. 21, 2006
Where: Pride 32, Las Vegas, Nev.
Result: Submission, Round 1

The only submission win on Shogun’s record was a memorable one. No word on how Shogun got Randleman's leg through customs.

5. Alistair Overeem II

When:  Feb. 24, 2007
Where: Pride 33, Las Vegas, Nev.
Result: KO, Round 1

The rematch went much the same way as the original. Only this time, Shogun knocked the ‘Reem cold with a punch.

It was also Rua’s fourth-consecutive win and swan song in the Pride promotion.

(Photo credit: Sherdog.com)

4. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira

When: June 26, 2005
Where:  Pride Critical Countdown 2005, Japan
Result:  Unanimous decision

In this epic battle in the 2005 Pride Middleweight Grand Prix quarterfinals, Rua threw the kitchen sink at Lil Nog but could not finish the tough submission artist.

Lil Nog had his moments, as well, but, ultimately, Rua took the decision.

3. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson

When: April 23, 2005
Where: Pride Total Elimination 2005, Japan
Result: TKO, Round 1

In the first round of the 2005 Pride Middleweight Grand Prix, Rua finished the favored Rampage with a brutal series of kicks to the ribcage.

2. Lyoto Machida

When: May 8, 2010
Where: UFC 113, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Result: KO, Round 1

Shogun seems to dig himself some Montreal. A year after finishing Liddell there, he knocked out Machida in spectacular fashion to earn his revenge against The Dragon and, more importantly, capture the UFC light-heavyweight belt.

1. Ricardo Arona

When: Aug. 28, 2005
Where: Pride Final Conflict 2005, Japan
Result: KO, Round 1

On the same night he knocked out Alistair Overeem, Shogun knocked out Ricardo Arona to win the
2005 Pride Middleweight Grand Prix.

To get to this two-fight, one-night crucible, he had to defeat Rampage and Lil Nog that spring.

What a gauntlet.