Mauricio "Shogun" Rua vs Alexander "The Mauler" Gustafsson
After Penn/MacDonald, the co-main event will feature another legend vs future star. The legendary Shogun Rua will be featured on Fox for the second time in a row. Fox has realized how exciting Shogun is after his legendary fight with Dan Henderson and his brawl with Brandon Vera. I would expect to see Shogun on many more Fox cards to come. But he is not anywhere close to the fighter he used to be. The reason why he had wars with Hendo and Vera was because of his fighting age. He should have been able to technically out strike Hendo and easily beat down Vera. After many knee injuries and brawls in the past, his fighting age is around his early to mid forties when he is only 30. Age is something Alexander Gustafsson has. Only 25, he has solidified himself as one of the best in his division. Similar to when Shogun was 25. At the age of 25, Shogun was the best light heavyweight on the planet. The Mauler is in the same position that Shogun was. You know he will be looking to do the same. Shogun has a major advantage in experience, but many times in the past, experience has been shown to be useless against youth and explosiveness. Shogun has a huge advantage in Muay Thai. His leg kicks were the best in the business, but he has abandoned them since the Machida rematch two years ago. Nowadays, he seems contempt to just use his not as effective boxing as his go to striking ability. Boxing is something he will not have an advantage over Alex. Alex has a big advantage in his boxing over Shogun. Alexander might be one of the best boxers in MMA today. He has an excellent understanding of technique, reach, and timing. His footwork is excellent also. His fight with Thiago Silva shows all of this. In the opening bell, Silva charged at him like a bull. Alex used great footwork to get out of the way, cut off angles, and land a beautiful uppercut that floored Silva. He didn't finish him but he was able to dominate him with his superior boxing and footwork. The important part of the stand up is that Alexander knows how to use his reach. Their reach length is similar but Alex is better at keeping his distance while Shogun gets up close and personal. The grappling is very interesting for this fight. We know that Shogun is not a world class wrestler, but his takedowns are extremely underrated. We don't know much about Alexanders wrestling. The last time he fought a great wrestler was against Phil Davis. He was thoroughly dominated and then submitted. He fought decent wrestlers in Matt Hamill and Vladimir Matyushenko, but they didn't attempt to take him down. We don't know how much he has improved his wrestling and grappling. Shogun himself is a good grappler so he might have the advantage there. We do know that he one of the best ground and pounders ever. But grappling is something that has been an advantage and disadvantage in the past for Shogun. Every time he has grappled he has gassed himself out. His body is more accustomed to striking. There is a major difference in his five round fight against Machida and his five round fight against Hendo. The Machida fight was mainly striking with a few takedowns sprinkled in. The Hendo fight was a showcase of wrestling, striking, and grappling. Against Vera, Shogun gassed himself out trying to out grapple Vera. But we have found out that he gets stronger in five round fights. He easily took rounds 4 and 5 against Machida. He made a comeback in the final two rounds of the Hendo fight. A fire was lit under him in the 4th round of the Vera fight. Alexander has shown to have good cardio. He showed no signs of tiring against Thiago Silva. But could he be similar to Shogun. Good cardio in striking. Bad cardio in grappling. Another quality we don't know about Alex is his chin, heart, and toughness. Shogun has one of the best chins and one of the biggest hearts in MMA ever. I will give the advantage to Shogun. Shogun is my favorite fighter ever. But I believe Alexander will pick him apart with footwork and boxing on route to a Unanimous decision victory.