UFC 139: Mauricio Shogun Rua's 10 Greatest Knockouts

Mauricio "Shogun" Rua is the former UFC light heavyweight champion and was the 2005 Pride middleweight champion.

Shogun has some of the best striking in all of MMA and some of the most brutal striking in MMA.

Throughout his career, he has 20 wins, and 18 of those have come via (T)KO.

Only two of his wins have come by a way other than strikes. That's impressive and terrifying at the same time.

Let's take a trip down memory lane and visit Shogun's 10 greatest knockouts.

No. 10: Angelo Antonio De Oliveira at Mecca World Vale Tudo 8

In Shogun's second professional fight, he earned a TKO via soccer kicks in only 55 seconds.

The best part? He literally soccer kicked his opponent out of the ring.

Not sure how much of it was the soccer kicks, and how much of it was his opponent wanting to get the heck out of there.

No. 9: Mark Coleman at UFC 93

Shogun's first fight in the UFC didn't go quite the way he planned, as he lost via submission to Forrest Griffin.

However, he fared a bit better in his second fight, as he TKO'd Mark Coleman in the third round with a brutal uppercut and head kick.

It was a relatively uninspired performance from Shogun, as many thought he should have been able to finish Coleman much sooner.

No. 8: Ricardo Arona at Pride Final Conflict 2005

In the finals of the Pride 2005 Middleweight Grand Prix, Shogun faced off against Ricardo Arona and delivered a brutal knockout.

After controlling Arona on the ground, Shogun attempted to mount but got kicked off, and Shogun was standing over Arona.

Then, he attacked with a flying stomp, followed by a normal stomp which landed, and from there, a few hammerfists sealed the deal, and Shogun won the Grand Prix.

No. 7: Hiromitsu Kanehara at Pride 29

This knockout was particularly brutal, even by Shogun's standards, and that picture basically says it all.

At Pride 29, Shogun took on Hiromitsu Kanehara and finished him with head stomps and soccer kicks, all of which are legal under Pride rules.

Kanehara got messed UP.

No. 6: Chuck Liddell at UFC 97

At UFC 97, Shogun was coming off a huge win over Mark Coleman, as he avenged one of his three (at the time) losses.

This fight was right in the middle off Liddell's final stretch in the UFC and was the second of his three straight knockout losses.

Towards the end of the first round, Shogun caught Liddell with a stepping left hook and dropped him.

Shogun followed up with several hammerfists, and with that, Liddell was one step closer to retirement, and Shogun had earned his shot at the UFC light heavyweight title.

No. 5: Rafael Freitas at Mecca World Vale Tudo 7

In Shogun's first professional fight, he had one of his best knockouts.

He took on Rafael Freitas at Mecca World Vale Tudo 7, and while he had his opponent rocked and up against the ropes, he finished him.

Shogun threw a right high kick, and knocked Freitas clean out.

Damn fine kick, damn fine.

No. 4: Cyrille Diabate at Pride Final Conflict Absolute

This was definitely one of Shogun's most brutal knockouts, and we can thank Pride rules for that.

About five minutes into the first round of the fight (Pride had a 10 minute first round), Diabate was able to push Shogun off from top control, but he was in even more danger than he was on the ground.

Shogun swarmed Diabate with a flurry of stomps and soccer kicks, including a soccer kick to the face that Diabate must have tasted shin on.

It was definitely one of the most brutal knockouts of Shogun's career.

No. 3: Forrest Griffin at UFC 134

At UFC 134, Forrest Griffin and Shogun Rua faced off for a second time.

In their first matchup, Griffin was a huge underdog, but he won the fight by scoring a third-round rear-naked choke. As a huge underdog the second time around, people thought there could be a repeat performance.

Shogun was having none of that, as he hurt Griffin badly on the feet and hammerfisted his way to a brutal KO to strikes in less than two minutes.

No. 2: Rampage Jackson at Pride Total Elimination 2005

In what is arguably Shogun's most brutal knockout, he took on Quinton "Rampage" Jackson at Pride Total Elimination 2005.

In the first round of the Pride 2005 Middleweight Grand Prix, Shogun took on Rampage and ended his first round of the tournament in the first round.

Shogun got Rampage in the corner and just started landing soccer kicks.

Take a seat Rampage.

No. 1: Lyoto Machida at UFC 113

In what is arguably the biggest win of his career, Shogun earned the best knockout of his career.

After losing a controversial decision to Lyoto Machida at UFC 104 with the light heavyweight title on the line, he earned a rematch with "The Dragon" and left no doubt the second time around.

In the first round of the fight, Shogun landed an overhand right that send Machida hurdling to the ground.

Shogun followed up by getting the mount, landing a few punches and Machida went out cold.

With that, Shogun was finally, and once again, the No. 1 light heavyweight in the world.

Tim McTiernan is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. For the latest news on everything MMA, follow me on Twitter @tmt2393.