What's Next For Shogun Rua?

[Turd Ferguson]

So with Shogun beating Lyoto Machida last night and rightfully becoming UFC Light-Heavyweight Champion, the question has to be: What's next? He won in very impressive fashion, and I even though I said this after Machida won the title, I'll say it again right now: The belt will not be hot potatoed anymore, and he might be champion for years.

I said that for Machida. And he seemed unbeatable back when he beat Rashad Evans for the title. I thought he would handle Rampage, and when Shogun wound up being named #1 contender around this time last year, I was surprised and confused. After all, Shogun really hadn't looked close to his PRIDE form since coming to the UFC. He lost to Forrest Griffin, had a lackluster win vs. Mark Coleman, and knocked out a well past his prime Chuck Liddell. At the time, I asked myself what Shogun had done to deserve a title shot, and I sort of figured he was being fed to Machida. I was dead wrong as Shogun has beaten Lyoto Machida twice. Shogun looks as dangerous as he did in PRIDE, and last night showed he is certainly not done, and the Griffin and Coleman fights were just him being affected by injury and not being 100%. I was watching a video blog by Wanderlei Silva last night before the card, and he predicted the "Revenge of the Century" for "Shogoon". He was dead on. We are back to PRIDE level Shogun, who don't forget, while in PRIDE, he was widely regarded as the best light-heavyweight in all of MMA.

I think if Rashad Evans beats Rampage, that will be the title fight. It's an interesting enough fight, and Rashad's still at the top of the heap. I don't think Rampage will get the title shot if he wins. He's been inactive for too long and it would be unfair for him to leapfrog his way to a title shot after beating Rashad.

Shogun's expressed a desire to fight Anderson Silva. That would be a hell of a fight, but Silva needs to beat Chael Sonnen first. We all know how I think that fight's going to unfold. Honestly, if Rampage wins, I think we might get Shogun vs. Machida III. There's nobody else that's really available or worthy of a title shot right now besides Rashad Evans. They're bringing Jon Jones along slowly, as evidenced by the Vladimir Matyushenko fight coming up. Forrest vs. Lil Nog would have been the contingency for Rampage winning I think, but there's no way Lil' Nog will get a title shot if he beats Jason Brilz. I think things will get real interesting if Rampage beats Rashad.

 

[JohnnyDrama]

actually dana said who ever wins (Rampage - Rashad) they get the title shot. So as a rampage fan i want rampage to win and face Shogun for the title. let's not forget Rampage was supposed to fight for the title after he beat Jardine but he had to get surgery on his mouth. So that would be Shoguns next test, either Rampage or Rashad. So again im pulling for Rampage then we get Shogun - Rampage 2

 

[INDYjon22]

The winner of Rampage/Evans will be next in line. Regardless of the number of wins both men have racked up since they lost their belts the winner will get the next title shot. Why? Because they are big draws and they are fighting one another. Since they both come in at 3 and 4 on the top Lightweights list that this fight will just be viewed as an elimination fight.

A week ago I also would have said that the winner of Lil Nog/Griffin should be looked at. Not as the next contender but for at least a number one contenders fight in the future. Griffin and Nog both were coming in as top ranks as well and their fight would obviously be an elimination fight. If the winner didn't receive a title shot then they should have at least garnered a fight with Lyoto Machida to decide who was next.

But clearly the next challenger will come from the winner of Rampage/Evans. The only way I can see that not happening is if the fight is a total snoozefest, which I find hard to believe with the heat between both men.

 

[Via Armbar]

It will be the winner of Rampage/Rashad no doubt about it. The original was supposed to be a contender eliminator so I see this one being the same. What's going to be more interesting is the fight after that title fight. Myself and many others see both Rampage and Evans as underdogs to Rua. Shogun has already beat Jackson before and I don't think that Evans has the speed or chin to handle Shogun. I think Rashad would do slightly better but even thart fight I see him goig to sleep in the second.

As stacked as the LHW division is, outside of Rampage/Rashad, all the other contenders would have to be given a gift shot so to speak. Griffin hasn't racked up enough credible wins to put him in direct contention, and a win over Brilz won't help Diet Nog very much either. Same could be said about Jones and Bader. You have the everlurking Couture in the background but for me personally that fight is too predictable. I honestly believe that after Silva fights Sonnen he will move up and will get an immediate title shot. Since this title fight happened in the middle of the year, Shogun is probably going to fight only one more time this year in the fall. Silva has a fight in August so it would match up somewhat with Shogun's timing. I see them fighting in February of 2011. I would love to see it.

 

[INDYjon22]

It will be the winner of Rampage/Rashad no doubt about it. The original was supposed to be a contender eliminator so I see this one being the same. What's going to be more interesting is the fight after that title fight. Myself and many others see both Rampage and Evans as underdogs to Rua. Shogun has already beat Jackson before and I don't think that Evans has the speed or chin to handle Shogun. I think Rashad would do slightly better but even thart fight I see him goig to sleep in the second.

As stacked as the LHW division is, outside of Rampage/Rashad, all the other contenders would have to be given a gift shot so to speak. Griffin hasn't racked up enough credible wins to put him in direct contention, and a win over Brilz won't help Diet Nog very much either. Same could be said about Jones and Bader. You have the everlurking Couture in the background but for me personally that fight is too predictable. I honestly believe that after Silva fights Sonnen he will move up and will get an immediate title shot. Since this title fight happened in the middle of the year, Shogun is probably going to fight only one more time this year in the fall. Silva has a fight in August so it would match up somewhat with Shogun's timing. I see them fighting in February of 2011. I would love to see it.

Man, I didn't even think of Anderson Silva. Depending on if Rua can get through the winner of Rampage/Evans, which I will reserve judgment on for now, Silva makes the most sense. Anderson has obviously been working his way up the LHW ranks, but wouldn't fight Machida. Now that Machida isn't champion there are no more excuses for why Anderson can't fight for the belt. That would also be a very unpredictable fight, at least for me currently. Both fighters are very talented and could give the other a ton of shit.

 

[Y4J]

The LW division is stacked. It can be anybody against Shogun. Rashad/Jackson, little Nog/Forrest, even couture. I know some of these guys might not have EARNED it yet, but they are marketable fights and these are all good fighters so it seems easy to bracket things out.

 

[jmt225]

I think there's no other way to go than giving him the winner of Rashad vs. Rampage. I mean, there really are no other contenders when you think about it. The closest that comes to are Jon Jones and Ryan Bader, and both are two, maybe three, wins away from getting a title shot. Same case most likely for Lil' Nog. You could make an argument for Randy Couture, but meh... a win over James Toney (if he does win), after barely squeaking by Brandon Vera and beating a washed-up Mark Coleman, does not earn you a shot at the Title.

So, yeah... winner of Rampage vs. Rashad, and then they will start to set up Anderson Silva to get a shot at whoever is champion after that (hopefully Shogun, and personally... I think this will happen even if Silva loses to Chael Sonnen; Dan Henderson still got a shot at Anderson Silva's title even after losing to Rampage, after all). There's literally no other way to go, unless they want to give guys like Jones, Bader, and Lil' Nog a shot way sooner than expected.

 

[Dave]

See this is a problem that always comes around in sport. Hua is an amazing fighter and beat Machida like he was some low-rent MMA fighter, which he is far from. However, Rua tore him apart and showed people all over the world that he is a terrific MMA practitioner. The way he dealt with Machida was absolutely inspired and my thoughts about it going to the judges could not have been further from the truth. The fact that I am getting at, is that you always have an entity that separates themselves from the competition. It happened with Boxing with "Money" Mayweather and it happens with Football with Arsenal a few years ago. These entities set the mould for what great talent is and stand head and shoulders above the competition.

My hope is that Shogun is not in that situation although it very much seems like it is. My fear is that, like in UFC Undisputed, you reach the top and face a lack of different competition and it becomes stale very quickly. Machida definitely has enough talent to take the light-heavyweight division and make it his own. Like Guy said, the belt wont be tossed around from person to person any more and that could be a good thing as well as a bad thing. With someone holding onto it, the division will be really stable and it could be doing with that. However, it runs the risk of being forgotten in the shuffle with more interesting scenarios going on in other divisions. You have Lesnar coming back to challenge Carwin and GSP and Koscheck lighting up other divisions.

Hua, to me, doesn't have the charisma to be like Lesnar or Koscheck and could possibly bore me. I hope not. As for what is next for him, I don't think there is anything else for him but the winner of Rashad and Rampage. To me, it doesn't even matter who wins that fight because Rua is going to decimate them anyway. He is clearly the best at 205 and as in all cases with people standing head and shoulders above the competition is someone to step up to the plate and take them on.