UFC light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones is the most dominant LHW fighter in the history of the sport, having become a champion at just 23-years old.
Jon Jones faced the former UFC light-heavyweight champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at UFC 128 on March 19, 2011. Jones was coming off the biggest win of his career over the undefeated rising contender in Ryan Bader at UFC 126.
Meanwhile, “Shogun” was scheduled to defend his UFC light-heavyweight title against Rashad Evans. During Jones’ post-fight interview following his win over Ryan Bader at UFC 126, Joe Rogan announced that Rashad Evans has sustained an injury to knee, in training.
He then revealed that the UFC wanted Jones to replace Evans against Maurício Rua in the main event for the UFC light-heavyweight title. Jones accepted, and the fight was set to take place at UFC 128.
Jones ended up dominating the fight right from the start. He landed a flying knee that badly hurt the champion early in the fight. Jones dominated “Shogun” for 3-rounds, until he landed a body shot and knee to the head that sent Rua down to the canvas. The referee stepped in quickly, calling a stop to the contest at 2:37 in round 3.
Rewatch the action from UFC 128: Jon Jones vs Shogun Rua below:
After Jones’ victory over Maurício Rua at UFC 128, he became the youngest champion since the UFC added weight classes.
Since then, Jones has went on to become the most dominant UFC light-heavyweight champion of all time. He is undefeated in 14 championship fights with notable wins over Quinton Jackson, Lyoto Machida, Rashad Evans, Vitor Belfort, Chael Sonnen, Alexander Gustafsson 2x, Glover Teixeira, Daniel Cormier 2x, Ovince Saint Preux, Anthony Smith, Thiago Santos and Dominick Reyes.
Meanwhile, “Shogun” Rua has fought 14 times since losing his UFC light-heavyweight title to Jon Jones at UFC 128, putting together a record of 7-1-6. He has never challenged for a UFC title since then.
Rua is currently ranked No. 15 in the division and is booked to fight Antonio Rogerio Nogueira at UFC 250 on 9 May, 2020.
This article first appeared on CLOSEDGUARDMEDIA.com on 21st March, 2020.
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