The is real answer is that he took a hellacious beating that would have stopped most other guys in the division. Shogun and everyone close to him say that he was 100% going into the fight, and Shogun and everyone close to him say that he looked bad because of the shots that Jones hit him with right out of the gate, but you know better than they do about his conditioning and what was going on in the cage during the fight. Like I wrote earlier, denial is a *****.
It's not like the fight was close for a round or two and then Shogun gassed from Jones's pressure. Shogun was getting beat from the first 3 seconds of the fight forward. Jones had better stand up, better wrestling and was simply a level above Shogun. Shogun couldn't even land a punch OR a kick on him. I don't care how good Shogun's cardio is or will be, he will never beat Jones (barring a fluke haymaker that KO's him like Serra over GSP). BJ Penn in the 1st GSP fight, 2nd Hughes fight and Fitch fight is an example of a fighter who lost or didn't get the win BECAUSE of his cardio. Not Shogun.
Not even close man. Shogun was coming off his 5th knee surgery. Easily past his prime. In top form he was a better fighter than Jones but lacks the size and physical strength. 50/50 fantasy fight, IMO. That being said, Jones is still improving.
It could have been the shots, never say never but its unlikely because as I said before, Rua looked badly gassed in rd 1... there`s no need for me to deny anything, Jones won the fight looking great doing it, it is what it is, Rua will be back & hopefully in better shape because his layoff obviously stopped him from being at 100% (IMO)
Also shogun has a tendency to gas in grappling intensive fights. Machida and lidell he didnt gas and looked great. Coleman, griffin and jones he gassed badly. What do those three matches have in common? Grappling. Grappling tires you differently than standup. I think shogun will gas against any fighter that can put him on his back.
Those were different types of grapplers who fought different fights against shogun. Neither has the same level of wrestling or top control that Jones does. Shogun spent the vast majority of the time on the ground in the Lil Nog fight in top position jumping in and out of Nog's guard landing strikes. IIRC Nog got him on his back briefly in the first and the third rounds before Shogun swept him and reversed the position. Arona managed to take him down for about a five seconds before getting swept and almost put in an omoplata. Jones put Shogun on his back in the first, and Shogun spent almost three minutes straining with all with all of his might to get a sweep with Jones landing elbows strikes to his midsection and head and smothering his mouth.