Breakdancing across the canvas and then rolling around on the ground while someone stands over you lashing your face in, until you're a bloody mask? I think that was more traumatizing and savage than Jones-Rua, but I don't suppose it's worth arguing over. They were both brutal!!
Yeah, they were both incredibly vicious but Brock at least landed an ineffectual takedown which was more than Shogun managed. I'd say that Shogun maintained his dignity more, however, because the breakdancing bit was humiliating.
Velsaquez vs Lesnar was similarly stunning, btw. Absolute destruction. But for some reason, the beating Jones gave Rua seemed worse to me. I remember myself thinking 'wtf Jones is playing with this guy, it's like he's deliberately not finishing him so he can punish him some more', while in the Cain vs Brock fight Cain was like a programmed machine, taking 100% advantage of every mistake Lesnar did. I agreed that Rua was definitely not 100%, but the way you present it takes away much credit from Jones' win and I feel this is wrong. Noone came even close to doing THAT to Shogun ever before, even after lay-offs and/or injuries. That fight proved to me that Jones simply has Rua's number. And we all know how good Rua is, hence why imo Jones' win was huge, especially in the utterly dominant fashion it came.
The performance Jones did against Rua showed me that he is a monster and possibly gonna be unbeatable at 205 for a while.
All this proves to me is that Jones is a much better fighter than either Forrest Griffin or Mark Coleman, which I already knew anyway.
Great, extraordinary, call it what you like. The knees, the elbows, the liver shot. Jones' performance was ****ing awesome.
Wow. I was expecting a lot more Shogun nuthuggery when I clicked on this thread. I'm glad to see that there's a growing backlash against more obnoxious, excuse-making fans.
I was going to say Great cos I think Rua was out of shape but I opted for Extraordinary as Jones had 6 weeks, was facing a legend, could have fought scared etc
That was pretty much expected. I was shocked it lasted longer to be honest but thats a testament to Ruas toughness.
You could see it either two ways. A better win than first thought because he stopped Shogun and Shogun didn't exactly look amazing in the Hendo fight, I'd say he looked more similar to the Shogun in this fight than the Forrest or Machida fights (I believe this is because of the damage Shogun took rather than his physical state coming into the fight) Or A lesser win than originally believed due to Shogun being beatable and Hendo showing that, proving he's not this tour de force everyone thinks he is. Styles make fights, they say. Myself, I think both have some truth to them so it's still pretty much the same level I thought it was in the first place, a great win. Would it have gone any different had Shogun not came out of surgery? I really don't think so, but maybe more people would be inclined to give him more credit if that'd been the case.