Sherdog’s Top 10: Greatest Fighters of the 2000s

9. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua

The recently retired Brazilian legend finishes ninth here, adding to his third place on Sherdog's list of greatest Pride FC fighters, fifth place among the all-time greatest light heavyweights, and sixth on the list of greatest Brazilians. Personally, I had Rua all the way at No. 2. Rua, like the other top Chute Boxe representatives, aged poorly, being notably past his best by his early 30s. However, was not an issue for the 2000s. The youngest fighter on this entire list, Rua had his pro fight in November 2002, right as he was about to turn 21. He suffered an early submission loss to top light heavyweight Renato Sobral in 2003 before he debuted in Pride Fighting Championships. By 2005, Rua was 8-1 but largely unheralded prior to entering the legendary 2005 Pride Middleweight (203-pound) Grand Prix. I consider Rua's triumph in this tournament to be the single greatest accomplishment of the decade, and to this day one of the most brilliant that MMA has ever seen. Rua demolished Quinton Jackson in the opening round, then won a clear decision over Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, flattened Alistair Overeem with punches in the semifinals, and then overwhelmed perhaps the best grappler in the sport, Ricardo Arona, in under three minutes in the final. I can't think of a harder road to a tournament win, or a more amazing series of victories.

Aside from a setback in his first fight against Mark Coleman, Rua would continue dominating in Pride, scoring a nice kneebar victory over Kevin Randleman and knocking out Overeem a second time. However, he came in flat and overconfident against Forrest Griffin for his UFC debut in September 2007, being submitted in the third round. That loss aged fairly well, as Griffin would go on to become UFC light heavyweight champion, but those dismissing “Shogun” were in for a shock. After getting his revenge against Coleman and knocking out Chuck Liddell, whom we will discuss later, Rua challenged for the UFC light heavyweight title against then-undefeated Lyoto Machida. Most observers scored it for Rua, myself included, but the decision went to Machida. Rua left no doubts in the rematch, knocking out Machida in the very first round, a shocking, amazing win, but since that occurred in 2010, it doesn't count for purposes of this list. Still, Rua had gone 18-4 in the decade, leaving numerous all-time greats broken and unconscious in his wake and was on the cusp of winning a UFC crown to add to his PRIDE Grand Prix title.

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