What can you say other than Shogun Rua is the best LHW fighter on the planet! Its been a long time coming, but he finally climbed the last bit of that mountain when he defeated Lyoto Machida at UFC 113. He must feel like Rocky Balboa did when he finally made it up those stairs at the Liberty Bell in Philly, arms raised in victory and jubilation!
As far as I'm concerned, and I can't be alone in thinking this, not only is Shogun the best 205 pound fighter alive, he is very near the top of the best P4P list. His achievements speak for themselves. Aside from his injury related slump after first coming to the UFC, Shogun has been close to flawless in his fighting career. His work in the now defunct Pride was, in a word, amazing! Shogun has been involved in some of the most memorable and exciting MMA fights you will ever see with wins over the likes of Lyoto Machida, Rampage Jackson, Alistair Overeem (twice), Akihiro Gono, Kazuhiro Nakamura, Chuck Liddell, Ricardo Arona, Kevin Randleman and Lil' Nog, amongst others. That's an insanely impressive list of victims!
Shogun's style of fighting is as well rounded, vicious and exciting as it gets. His striking is off the charts and he has a ridiculous submission game with some of the sickest and slickest leg locks in the business. If there is one slight weakness in Mauricio's game, its his takedown defense. But in his case, it almost doesn't matter because he has an uncanny ability to work his way back to his feet once the fight hits the mat. In 23 fights, Rua has won 16 of those fights by KO or TKO. That's an unprecedented 85% T(KO) rate.
If any fighter deserves to be a champion, in the biggest MMA organization in the world, its Shogun. He's worked his way through so much in the past 3 years, including multiple knee surgeries. As recently as 7 weeks ago, he had an appendectomy. There's tough fighters, and then there's Mauricio Rua.
After his loss to Forrest Griffin and his rather unimpressive win over a very old, very slow, totally gassed Mark Coleman, a large portion of the MMA community, media and fans alike, wrote him off as being done as an elite fighter. Given what we all saw, it was mostly justified. He didn't look remotely close to the dynamic Shogun we all worshipped in Japan. None of that mattered to Mauricio. While his surgically repaired knees continued to heal, he worked on improving his fitness, knowing full well that he was far from a done fighter at the tender age of 27. His next fight was against Chuck Liddell, a match-up MMA fans have been salivating for years to see. Even though it wasn't Chuck in his prime, Shogun won the fight by KO and showed glimpses of returning to form. He proved he was fully back with his next fight, a title shot against the unbeaten Lyoto Machida. While he lost a very controversial decision, in a fight that is an all-time classic, he won the hearts of MMA fans worldwide. Given the questionable decision and the highly competitve nature of the fight, Shogun was awarded a very justified rematch. The MMA world waited 6 long months for that fight to finally happen. Shogun seized the opportunity with a first round KO win over Machida, giving the Dragon his first loss and marking the first time he'd been knocked out. His efforts earned him an extra 65K bonus for KOTN. Prior to fighting Shogun, Machida never lost a round in the UFC and was barely ever hit in 7 fights. Shogun proved to be Lyoto's kryptonite.
So what's next for Shogun? It looks like he'll be defending his belt against the winner of the long overdue Rampage Jackson/Rashad Evans fight. Either fighter is formidable, but nothing Shogun can't handle. Recently, Rua has stated that he would also like to fight Randy Couture. I hope that's just in an effort to increase his exposure because it can't be for the personal challenge. I don't even see that fight being competitive. Shogun will put a quick, decisive beating on the old man.
You can't not root for Shogun Rua. He's been at the top of his profession, fell back near the bottom and is now standing on the top of the proverbial mountain again, hands raised in victory. He's defied the medical odds and proved all the doubters wrong. He's like a real life Rocky Balboa, making his bones on pure heart. His monumental talent, determination and perseverance didn't hurt either.
War Shogun Balboa!
You gotta love this guy!
http://www.budo-mma-nyc.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment