Sherdog’s Top 10: Scariest Finishers

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5. Mauricio Rua

Before Jon Jones took the MMA world by storm with his prodigious title-winning campaign and defenses in 2011, “Shogun” was the original youthful superstar. The Curitiba, Brazil, native and Chute Boxe product ran through the Pride Fighting Championships middleweight grand prix in 2005 with the utmost style, finishing established light heavyweights like Quinton Jackson and Ricardo Arona with shocking ease. Multiple knee injuries seemingly damaged Rua beyond repair, but he recovered and adapted enough to knock out Lyoto Machida and capture the UFC light heavyweight title five years later to establish himself as an all-time great.

Rua’s dedication to brutal violence encompassed every phase of the fight. He could brutalize you with kicks at range, knock you out with punches in the pocket, knee you into oblivion in the clinch and soccer kick the living daylights out of even the toughest opponent on the ground. His killer instinct and ability to sense when an opponent was hurt might have been the best in the sport’s history, and but for the injuries that robbed him of several prime years, he might have found himself atop this list.

No fight better sums up Rua’s killer instinct than his second fight with Forrest Griffin. “Shogun” clipped Griffin with an overhand and then followed the stunned American backward and finished with some of the most brutal hammerfists ever witnessed. The finishing sequence in the fight with Jackson showcased the full range of Rua’s skills, beginning with a stepping knee, then a number of knees from the double-collar tie and finally a series of soccer kicks until the referee finally stepped in to save the concussed “Rampage.” Once he stung Machida and a faded but still dangerous Chuck Liddell with punches, he bombed away until they were fully out.

Despite his relatively short peak, few fighters have better earned their reputations as scary finishers than “Shogun.”

Number 4 » What clinches his place as an all-time scary finisher is his off-the-charts killer instinct. Once his opponent is hurt, he jumps on him with a profusion of vicious punches, and he does not seem to care whether they hit a legal spot or the blatantly illegal back of the head. The Brazilian’s willingness to ignore the rules in order to put down his opponent for good makes him even more terrifying than his prodigious physical gifts and slick technical skill already suggest.