Rashad Evans’s injury suddenly opened the door of limitless opportunities for a young Jon Jones. Then, Jon Jones was considered as one of the top prospects of the octagonal ring. The emerging fighter was pumped up when he suddenly got a title shot because of the injury of his teammate Evans. Evans injured his knees in training and was forced to withdraw from the originally planned UFC 128 matchup.
The year was 2011; Jones was then only 23, welcoming the title shot opportunity with both arms. And guess who was the opponent? Mauricio “Shogun” Rua was then the undisputed champion. “I’ve got it so great. I’m going for a world title, baby. Let’s do it,” Jones said this after Joe Rogan’s announcement. As Evans injured his knees, Rogan then informed Jones that the UFC wanted him to replace Evans in a fight against Maurício Rua in the main event for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship.
Jones and Rua both accepted the sudden and probablyunpredictable one, which the crowd perhaps did not expect to witness so quickly. Under the newly retitled “UFC 128: Shogun vs. Jones” tag, those two were ready to take on each other at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., on March 19.
Like the injury of Evans and UFC’s wish to bring a young Joe Jones into the main event, the result of the pay-per-view was nothing less than a surprising element; actually, it turned out to be a historic event. Rua found no match to Jones. The quick, aggressive, calculative, and agile fighter took down the champion thrice on the floor, lashing strike after strike with over 70% accuracy and significant strike rates of 66.4%. The exhausted legs of Rua were staggering, and he stood up for only the last time to again get down on his knees after enduring some more strikes from the top prospect, who later became a legend of the octagon.
One of the most highlighted moments of the battle came when the challenger used kicks early and then forced Rua to the cage, where he landed a beautiful spinning elbow to the champ’s head. UFC commentator Joe Rogan said, “That, ladies and gentlemen, is the future. He is the present, and he is the future, and he might be the greatest talent that we ever see in the UFC.”
