Sherdog’s Top 10: Greatest Pride FC Fighters

3. Mauricio Rua

Personally, I had “Shogun” second. He achieved his absolute peak in Pride and was nearly perfect at 12-1. He had outstanding, underrated grappling, being exceptionally difficult to take down, and was fantastic at getting back to his feet, with excellent BJJ. However, it was on the feet where he was the best, perfecting the Chute Boxe style that Wanderlei Silva made iconic, with blinding speed and athleticism. “Shogun” was also harder to hit than Silva, and nothing was quite as terrifying as him jumping with both feet to head-stomp a downed opponent. Rua's performance in the 2005 Pride Grand Prix was one of the most spectacular I've ever seen in the sport and was a greater singular achievement than what anyone else on this list achieved, even the No. 1 pick. Rua demolished Quinton Jackson in the opening round, won a clear decision over Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, flattened Alistair Overeem with punches in the semifinals and then overwhelmed perhaps the best grappler in the sport at the time, Ricardo Arona, in under three minutes in the final. I can't think of a harder road to a tournament win, or a more amazing series of victories. Aside from a setback in his first fight against Mark Coleman where he lost due to an early injury from a takedown, Rua would continue dominating in Pride, scoring a nice kneebar victory over Kevin Randleman and knocking out Alistair Overeem a second time to finish his time in the promotion. Shogun only fought in Pride for slightly over three years, from late 2003 to early 2007, but he left a tremendous impression on the MMA world in that time.

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