Maurício Rua vs. Jon Jones

Twenty three year old challenger Jon "Bones" Jones put on one of the great title performances in UFC history by dispatching the standing champion, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, in a three round virtuoso display of controlled fury and fighting artistry at UFC 128. A bout Tapology fans were picking in favor of Rua and professional oddsmakers were giving to Jones by a narrow margin ended up a complete beatdown. Jones won every second of the fight, alternating between smothering and overwhelming the champion in a performance as notable for its patience as for its aggressiveness. On a night in which Jones became the youngest UFC Light Heavyweight Champion ever, the talk leapfrogged his anticipated initial title defense against Rashad Evans, into Jones's pound-for-pound status and all-time legacy. Clearly, at UFC 128 a new star was born.

Round one began with an extraordinary display of striking variety from the challenger. Jones began with an immediate flying knee, followed by a left leg head kick, and then a spinning heel kick to the liver, all in the opening seconds. At barely the 0:30 mark, following the briefest of tie-ups Jones used a head clinch to drive Rua down to the Octagon canvas and land on top of him. Less than a minute in the champion already looked like the action was too fast for him to keep up. Jones soon passed to half guard following a failed triangle attempt by Rua, and looked to sink in the same topside choke that he used to put out Bader. Rua defended well, but as Jones began to calmly attack with elbows and head pressure, Rua looked uncomfortable and increasingly tired fending off the onslaught. Rua attempted a sweep from half guard unsuccessfully near the 2:45 mark and was stymied. Increasingly Rua looked stuck, and Jones increased his attack with punishing elbows to the body.

Matters worsened significantly for Shogun in the final ninety seconds of the round, as he struggled back to his feet and was immediately hit with the most damaging flurry of the fight, a combination knee to the body, knee to the head, heavy left hook to the head and two more punches down the pipe. Shogun was never the same after the devastating combination. He advanced on Jones but his punches had lost all sting, and Jones picked him apart for the final minute with a grab bag of kicks, knees and punches up and down the body. Rua ended the round glassy eyed and wobbly.

Round two proved a continuation of the first. Jones opened with three different kicks to three different areas, then hit Shogun with a huge spinning back elbow against the cage fencing that was inches from being a fight-ender. Shogun threw back but was unable to reach the challenger with a series of lunging overhands. Near the halfway point of the round Shogun threw his first leg kick of the fight, and Jones immediately took him down, then followed up with a big shot to the face inside Rua's guard. Jones began to have increasing success with elbows inside of Rua's guard, and Rua started to look seriously beaten up. The round ended with Rua helplessly attempting to sweep Jones from half guard as he ate punches and elbows, followed by a late attempt at a leg lock by Jones and a hammerfist to the champion for good measure.

What proved to be the final round began with Rua attempting to find some momentum on the feet, but once again he was forced to reach too far with his punches in an effort to find Jones. After a brief scramble following a missed Rua leglock, Jones seized top position again and resumed his half guard assault. His punches began to find their mark with increasing frequency. After a series of monstrous elbows on the ground turned Rua over, Rua staggered to his feet and Jones opened up his attack. Rua stumbled back toward the cage. Jones advanced with one final left hook to the body and a knee to the head that crumpled the champion as referee Herb Dean stepped in to stop the fight.