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

The Natural Born Runner said:
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!
Click to expand...

You should do yourself the service of looking up some of his fights, Jose (Pele was one of the greatest strikers i have ever seen.

 
The Natural Born Runner said:
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.
Click to expand...
Used to be a big fan of Shogun, but it has become way too sad and depressing in the past few years. His first fight with Machida was the best I believe he has ever looked and he got robbed (thank god for the redemption). But after that fight, he lost it. I wish he had retired after jbj, already a legend and it was clear that the knee issues ruined him.

I guess the fight with Vera was okay (I mean great fight, but shogun didnt look good), same with Hendo, but the amount of punishment he took was unreal..
 
Was about to say wouldn't there be a huge size difference thought cyborg competes at welterweight? But then i checked the video out and Cyborg actually looks like a jacked up LHW WTF he was MASSIVE... STEROIDS MUCH?
 
Glove said:
Here is another "hidden" gem for you, Evangelista (Cyborg) Santos vs Jose (Pele) Landis-Jons

Click to expand...
Thanks :)
I don't think I have seen this one before.

Will watch it in full tomorrow when I'm on a proper PC.
 
eshay said:
Was about to say wouldn't there be a huge size difference thought cyborg competes at welterweight? But then i checked the video out and Cyborg actually looks like a jacked up LHW WTF he was MASSIVE... STEROIDS MUCH?
Click to expand...
Well... let's say it wouldn't really shock me...

Tho I have to say 170 seemed a bit too far down for Cyborg. He looked quite drawn out at the weigh ins imo.
 
Shogun wud still KO most of dem pussy LHW's including rumble johnson.
 
LHW has become such a pussy division. Nobody wants to do fack all nowadays.

War shogun
 
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...
Good fucking lord. Looks like they peeled his face off to fix that shit. Fucking gross lol
 
Felis said:
Well... let's say it wouldn't really shock me...

Tho I have to say 170 seemed a bit too far down for Cyborg. He looked quite drawn out at the weigh ins imo.
Click to expand...

yeah he was def up there with the biggest at ww.
 
eshay said:
Was about to say wouldn't there be a huge size difference thought cyborg competes at welterweight? But then i checked the video out and Cyborg actually looks like a jacked up LHW WTF he was MASSIVE... STEROIDS MUCH?
Click to expand...
Exactly what I thought at first, supposedly Evangelista fought at Light Heavyweight until 2007 lol.
 
RyuHayabusa said:
Shogun wud still KO most of dem pussy LHW's including rumble johnson.
Click to expand...
I love Rumble, so I'm not ever going to agree with you on that ;)

I also wish Shogun's knees didn't give out so early. I miss Muay Thai beast version of Shogun. Flying kicks, body and leg kick barrages, heavy hands, diving for takedowns and kneebars, sweeps from half-guard.

I miss that guy, so much!
 
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...

yup. Also he had this high pace that other fighters couldn't keep up with. He was relentless always pressing and with great cardio
 
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...


Good stuff, TS!!

Since you are seeing some classics, here is a great one. For me the biggest classic of Vale Tudo.

Wanderlei Silva vs Artur Mariano.

No gloves.
Kicks to the groin were allowed.
Headbutts were allowed.
Stomps.
Kicking a down opponent.

Both of them fought two times that night before this one. Pure savage!

 
Last edited:
Werdun said:
Used to be a big fan of Shogun, but it has become way too sad and depressing in the past few years. His first fight with Machida was the best I believe he has ever looked and he got robbed (thank god for the redemption). But after that fight, he lost it. I wish he had retired after jbj, already a legend and it was clear that the knee issues ruined him.

I guess the fight with Vera was okay (I mean great fight, but shogun didnt look good), same with Hendo, but the amount of punishment he took was unreal..
Click to expand...
Yeah, so sad that his career went the way it did.

In a way I'm glad he didn't retire, because we got to see one of the greatest fights I've ever seen in Henderson vs Shogun I (the second fight wasn't too bad either ;)). I know the record books will always say it was 48-47 for Henderson, but that will forever be a draw to me - Round 5 was a 10-8 for Mauricio for sure.

I hope he has one last drive in him, perhaps 1-2 more great fights. I really think it's time for fights with Glover and Manuwa, perhaps even a rematch with Ovince St. Preux to get that fluke back.
 
madi said:
Good stuff, TS!!

Since you are seeing some classics, here is a great one. For me the biggest classic of Vale Tudo.

Wanderlei Silva vs Artur Mariano.

No gloves.
Kicks to the groin were allowed.
Headbutts were allowed.
Stomps.
Kicking a down opponent.

Both of them fought two times that night before this one. Pure savage!

Click to expand...

Never seen this before, but thank you very much for sharing.

Crazy fight, crazy ruleset, I genuinely still have a hard time even understanding how this stuff was allowed. The word you used "savage" is pretty apt here lol, those cuts on their faces were bad, and to think that they are throwing punches with no gloves on just makes it all the worse.

First pro loss for Wanderlei, probably shouldn't even be a loss - didn't feel like he legitimately lost.

People (including myself) scrutinize records and resumes and call fighters out for being overrated etc, but I think we (I included) lose perspective at times, or how far this sport has come. These Vale Tudo days cannot be compared to the modern day unified rules type of fights - they are almost like different sports.

Wanderlei, in a word - legend!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
1,237,378
Messages
55,486,948
Members
174,789
Latest member
This Island Earth

Share this page

Back
Top