Fan to fan, man to man, let’s be honest with ourselves: Pride Fighting Championships had problems.
The mismatches, the blatantly biased judging, borderline intentional lack of PED testing. You name it, Pride had it. But if new fans hear MMA aficionados wax poetic about the now defunct organization, it’s because they gave us some of the greatest fighters and fights in the history of the sport.
At UFC 190 Mauricio “Shogun” Rua (my all time favorite fighter) will be taking on Antonio Rogerio Nogueira in a rematch of their war from the 2005 Middleweight Grand Prix.
The First Meeting
Once Young Guns
At the time of their meeting, Shogun was 22 years old and was quickly becoming the most terrifying thing at 205 lbs. He was 9-1 as a professional fighter riding a five fight win streak, all knockouts and only two months removed from a first round demolition of MMA legend Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.
Lil’ Nog was no slouch either. The older man at 29, he was nonetheless 11-1 and riding an eight fight win streak that included Sakuraba, Overeem and a submission over fan favorite Dan Henderson.
What was thought to be a “striker vs. ground fighter” match quickly turned on its head.
Gaps in the Shogun Onslaught
I have nothing but love in my heart when I say that Shogun Rua has very poor boxing. In the open canvas, Shogun’s boxing consists of long left-right hooks and little else. In fact, there’s not a lot to set Shogun apart from the winging combinations that I roundly criticized Renan Barao for as TJ Dillashaw kept weaving and nailing him with counters.
But Shogun was generally very accurate with his hooks and light heavyweights are usually not the fastest counter fighters. If fighters closed distance underneath his hooks, Shogun had an absolutely lethal thai plum waiting for them.
So for the most part, he could get away with them.
Until Lil’ Nog. Because the smaller Nogueira never achieved the superstar status of Big Nog, people lump the “Nogueira Brothers” together and assume they were the same fighter.
Not even close.
While Lil’ Nog was comfortable off his back he never had the terrifying submission prowess that deterred so many fighters from following his brother to the ground. But while Big Nog had only a decent jab and slow hands everywhere else his lighter brother could bang.
As Shogun kept reached with his cinder block hands, Nogueira would simply back away and then step inside with crisp counters that visibly stunned the young phenom.
Not a Wrestler? No Problem.
Shogun is frequently out-sized and out-muscled by younger fighters in the UFC so it’s easy to forget that he was, at one point in time, a talented takedown artist.
By that I don’t mean he was a wrestler; he wasn’t.
Instead, Shogun got takedowns from the same position he finished opponents with knees and punches: the clinch. From the clinch Shogun had a beautiful body lock takedown, trips and even the occasional snap down from the plum.
Whenever Nogueira gained the upper hand on the feet, Shogun would simply grab a body lock or double overhooks and swing him around to the ground. The striker had been out-struck while the grappler was being out-grappled.
I Believe I Can Fly
With bum knees and over a decade of true wars under his belt, Shogun’s top game is fairly ordinary.
In 2005 however, Shogun was young and reckless. When he didn’t have room to use stomps and soccer kicks, he frequently took to the air like an avenger of the night. In the event that he landed awkwardly he was a master of torquing his body and dropping hammer fists before the opponent could react.
When Nogueira tried to hold Shogun close, he’d break free and blast him with hooks. If Nogueira pushed Shogun away (or if Shogun just got bored) then he’d take to the skies and bring his fist down like Superman on the poor man’s skull.
It was energy inefficient, it wasn’t always accurate and my god he was only one good upkick away from being decapitated but it was glorious. Like Rampage’s slam over Ricardo Arona or Kevin Randleman suplexing Fedor Emelianenko, this is one of the iconic images.
The fight continued in this vein for some time. Nogeuira would keep jacking Shogun’s jaw with crisp counters on the feet while Shogun would drag him to the ground and do his impression of a meteor. By virtue of his more definitive ground activity and a knockdown during one of his wild exchanges, Shogun walked away with a close decision.
. . . And Now?
As weird as this sounds, Shogun is a more complete fighter now than he was in his youth. In his run to the title he displayed great lateral movement, beautiful set ups into withering leg kicks and terrific work against the fence. Unfortunately, those gains in strategy are offset by his inconsistency in using them and the loss of athleticism through injuries and age. Against St. Preux, he charged in with his head well past his hips and got dropped in under a minute.
On the other hand, Nogueira has been decimated. At 39 years old his age is showing and despite only two knockout losses, injuries have made him so slow it hurts to watch. His takedown defense was never good but it has been downgraded to atrocious. His jab and left hand alone got him past Tito Ortiz and Rashad Evans but against Anthony Johnson he looked lost.
Even if the worst version of Shogun shows up he’ll still hold significant advantages in terms of hand speed, foot speed and power. Even if Shogun runs in off balance winging punches I don’t think Nogueira has it in him to counter. And if the version of Shogun that won the light heavyweight title, the one that began to commit to his thunderous leg and body kicks and move laterally? No chance at all.
Despite being 4-3 in the UFC, Lil’ Nog is done. He has had a respectable career and the UFC should respect him enough not to cash on his name when it will be so detrimental to his health.
And for newer fans who may not understand why they’re watching two dinosaurs duke it out . . . respect them. You are watching two old greats tango for what possibly be their last time.
