Hidden Gem: Mauricio "Shogun" Rua vs Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos

The Natural Born Runner

The Natural Born Runner

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As a huge Shogun fan I've decided to go back and watch all of his career fights.

I'm 3 fights in and I've found a fight that I previously had never seen, where he took on a young version of the now long-time veteran of the sport, Cyborg Santos.

Great fight!

Yes, the striking at times is a little sloppy but this fight truly has everything. Takedowns, submission attempts, reversals, stomps, kicks, punches, knees - everything you'd like from MMA is in this fight.

Check it out, let me know what you think!

 
Cyborg wasn't bad at one point. Weird he went from this to losing to Diaz
 
Megatronlee said:
Cyborg wasn't bad at one point. Weird he went from this to losing to Diaz
Click to expand...
Well losing to Diaz is nothing to be ashamed of ;)

Cyborg is 5'10 and has a 72 inch reach (that's almost Conor size). Kind of crazy to think he was fighting at Light Heavyweight for a long-time, but that's what those days were like I guess, the smaller classes were not fully formed.

But yes, Cyborg was actually pretty good back here, and was pretty ripped lol.
 
I'm 1 minute in and it looks like 2 pissed up old grandads fighting in a car park, I'll stick with it though
 
lyndon955 said:
I'm 1 minute in and it looks like 2 pissed up old grandads fighting in a car park, I'll stick with it though
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It's not "high-level" per se, it's just a very entertaining fight.

To think that Shogun was 21, and only 2-0, he showed some really good ground skills and a very good chin - which we later knew that he became famous for.

The ground game is the bit that I enjoyed the most, but the scrap from the beginning was cool.
 
Megatronlee said:
Cyborg wasn't bad at one point. Weird he went from this to losing to Diaz
Click to expand...
Losing to Diaz is a highlight at this point....last fight he got his skull caved in.
Never seen that shit before....
CYBORG-2.png

How they had to fix it...
cyborg_before_after3.0.0.jpg
 
Dutch Rudder said:
Losing to Diaz is a highlight at this point....last fight he got his skull caved in.
Never seen that shit before....
CYBORG-2.png

How they had to fix it...
cyborg_before_after3.0.0.jpg
Click to expand...
Literally looks like the surgery they give car accident victims.

I think when you watch the fight I posted with Shogun, it really talks to how back Page's ground game is. Evangelista held that man down and passed his guard for an entire round, and he's almost 40. Shogun was able to control him on the ground with relative ease, and that was a 25 year old, fresher version of Santos.
 
Great fucking fight. Cyborg was giving it to shogun in the first minute. Also shows perfectly how shoguns best offense has always been his top game, not his striking per say. Thanks ts.
 
Werdun said:
Great fucking fight. Cyborg was giving it to shogun in the first minute. Also shows perfectly how shoguns best offense has always been his top game, not his striking per say. Thanks ts.
Click to expand...
He really does have some of the greatest ground and pound I've ever witnessed.

No worries man, glad I found this.

Cyborg had Shogun in all sorts of trouble early on though. You see Shogun keeps blinking when he's in the clinch, like he was rocked and trying to get his bearings back.

Also - check out the one that I posted in this thread somewhere it's his IFC debut against Erik Wanderley, that's a great fight too - some great BJJ on display.
 
The Natural Born Runner said:
As a huge Shogun fan I've decided to go back and watch all of his career fights.

I'm 3 fights in and I've found a fight that I previously had never seen, where he took on a young version of the now long-time veteran of the sport, Cyborg Santos.

Great fight!

Yes, the striking at times is a little sloppy but this fight truly has everything. Takedowns, submission attempts, reversals, stomps, kicks, punches, knees - everything you'd like from MMA is in this fight.

Check it out, let me know what you think!

Click to expand...


I went back and watched all of Shogun fights before the Jon Jones matchup.

I was disappoint
5383364_top-5-ufc-championship-beat-downs-of-all_te6812f1d.gif
 
HuskySamoan said:
Because I had invited friends to watch the fights with me, and I was like Shogun is a legend! He just knocked out Machida, he's got this! Then Jones beat him like Tina Turner.
Click to expand...
Oh sorry, I misunderstood your statement.

I thought you meant you were disappointed when you watched all of his other fights - which kind of confused me because his resume up until then was unreal.

Yeah man, I literally went from being a huge Jones fan, to a hater overnight - because of that fight.
 
Borg vs Manhoef in Cage Rage was ridiculous too, like rock em sockem robots, just nuts.
 
The Natural Born Runner said:
@lyndon955 I've also just watched this one, this was his 4th professional fight.

It's obviously not Silva, but rather Erik Wanderley.

Very cool fight.

Click to expand...

Wanderlei dude has a chin on him.. those shots in the first 45 seconds would have finished most guys.

I have missed some great fights, only seen these on Shoguns highlight reel
 
The Natural Born Runner said:
As a huge Shogun fan I've decided to go back and watch all of his career fights.

I'm 3 fights in and I've found a fight that I previously had never seen, where he took on a young version of the now long-time veteran of the sport, Cyborg Santos.

Great fight!

Yes, the striking at times is a little sloppy but this fight truly has everything. Takedowns, submission attempts, reversals, stomps, kicks, punches, knees - everything you'd like from MMA is in this fight.

Check it out, let me know what you think!

Click to expand...


Here is another "hidden" gem for you, Evangelista (Cyborg) Santos vs Jose (Pele) Landis-Jons

 
Werdun said:
Wanderlei dude has a chin on him.. those shots in the first 45 seconds would have finished most guys.

I have missed some great fights, only seen these on Shoguns highlight reel
Click to expand...
Wanderley had him in all sorts of situations on the ground where I thought he was in some genuine trouble, but yeah man those shots he cracked him with were brutal.

Crazy to think that this was like early 2000's and Josh Rosenthal was the ref lol.
 
Glove said:
Here is another "hidden" gem for you, Evangelista (Cyborg) Santos vs Jose (Pele) Landis-Jons

Click to expand...

What a fucking knee, man!

I've always heard a fair bit about Pele, but I never really looked into his fights. Crazy to see how far MMA has come, when you consider the camera angles for this fight, the cage, the fitness of the fighters etc.

No matter what though, these guys were/are some tough SOBs!
 
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