Shogun Rua Believes His 2005 Was The Best Run In MMA History

Shogun Rua thinks his 2005 was the best run in MMA history.

Rua was fighting in PRIDE back then and went 5-0 in the year including being a part of the PRIDE middleweight quarterfinal grand prix. He started the year out with a TKO win over Hiromitsu Kanehara, then TKO’d Rampage Jackson before beating Antonio Rogerio Nogueira by decision. The Brazilian then fought twice on the same night and beat Alistair Overeem by TKO and KO’d Ricardo Arona to cap off the 5-0 year.

Shogun Rua was able to beat future world champions during that run and looking back on it, he says that run proved to him he can be the best in the world.

“I look at every fight that I had and that I want pretty much is very important because, in the end, every fight means the sequence of your career.  And also, you gotta keep winning. And every time you win, it means something. The title fights won’t happen without all the wins,” Rua said at media day.

“So I treasure all the fights that I won. And talking about Pride, it’s the same, but I think the fight that comes to my mind if I have to pick one is the title fight against Ricardo Arona because it was when I became a reality, when people stopped seeing me as a prospect but started to take me for real and consider me a reality. So that’s the fight that I think about the most if I had to pick one from Pride.”

After 2005, Rua dropped his next fight but then had more success and eventually became the UFC light heavyweight champion. Although he never touched gold during that run, the Brazilian still believes that is the best year in MMA history.

“I believe it is. Of course,” Rua said.

Shogun Rua is set to return to the Octagon at UFC 274 as he rematches Ovince Saint Preux.

Do you think Shogun Rua’s 2005 was the best run in MMA history?

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