UFC Fight Night 26 - Shogun vs. Sonnen


Since losing his title to current UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua has alternated wins and losses, struggling to regain the intimidation of old.  Knee problems and age have muted the latter stages of what should have been a dominant run as UFC champion.  Former middleweight title contender Chael Sonnen comes in looking to reinvent himself at 205 and put the beatdown at the hands, elbows and knees of Jones behind him.  In former Pride champion Rua, Sonnen faces yet another top level striker who's finished many opponents on their feet including former UFC champions Chuck Liddell, Rampage Jackson, Forrest Griffin and Lyoto Machida.  But all the Freddie Roach boxing instruction in the world won't help Rua if he can't keep the indefatigable Sonnen from taking him down and keeping him there.  Although a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Rua chooses to stay upright when blitzing his opponents in the ring.  Back in his Pride days, Rua showed the ability to neutralize great MMA wrestlers like Ricardo Arona and Rampage Jackson, but those were many rounds ago and many of the newer fans to the UFC can only remember his humiliation by Jones.  The Sonnen fight plan remains simple- find an opening and shoot for a quick double-leg takedown or initiate a clinch where he can minimize the striking damage and work towards a takedown.  Once on the ground, a healthier Sonnen should safely control the fight, but that can all change in a matter of seconds as we saw when he was two minutes from winning the title and Anderson Silva caught him in a triangle submission.  Twenty five minutes is a long time to avoid the brutal kicks and straights of a legendary striker, but Sonnen should be able to quickly take Shogun down and grind out a safe, conservative victory.

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