Honestly I think it depends on which Shogun shows up...if it's the hobbled one that showed up against Griffin in his UFC debut (remember he's coming back from injury), then I'd actually go with Jones over Shogun, and his wins were otherwise not that impressive, besides a robbed one against Machida and his revenge KO on him.
Another question is, how will Jones respond? Will he continue with his high energy gameplan and unorthodox style of mixing in elbows and such as he's shown, or is he going to fall into the slower "boring" "I circle you, you circle me, I jab, you jab" sorta game? I think if he pushes the pace that he'd definitely do better...
So yeah, if Rua's came prepared and he's all healed up, I'd root for him hands down. However, if he's showing rust, I'm half expecting Jones to pummel him unfortunately. Shame Shogun can't use all his trademark stomps and soccer kicks in the UFC...
Also, GO CRO COP! Even if he looked like shit last fight against a loser like Frank Mir...sadly he's probably gonna get his butt handed to him by a scrub like Schaub (ok he's not a scrub, but still)...bust out the LHK and KO him! It really is sad to see how far Cro Cop has fallen in the last 6 years, I mean the dude beat Wanderlei and Barnett in one single night and rivaled Fedor as one of the most feared HWs in the world, yet he looks so dispirited these days...retirement is unfortunately around the corner I think, 37 isn't the worst age you can retire from MMA at. I really can't see the UFC keeping him unless he starts winning, even Dana commented a while back that he's not a favored one like Wanderlei, and that his performances are lacking so far.
Edit: And how can we forget about Faber/Wineland as well? Winner likely getting the next shot at Cruz, would be interesting to see if Faber can get past Wineland and see if he can take Cruz's belt at 135 as opposed to the 145 where he defeated Cruz...
Another question is, how will Jones respond? Will he continue with his high energy gameplan and unorthodox style of mixing in elbows and such as he's shown, or is he going to fall into the slower "boring" "I circle you, you circle me, I jab, you jab" sorta game? I think if he pushes the pace that he'd definitely do better...
So yeah, if Rua's came prepared and he's all healed up, I'd root for him hands down. However, if he's showing rust, I'm half expecting Jones to pummel him unfortunately. Shame Shogun can't use all his trademark stomps and soccer kicks in the UFC...
Also, GO CRO COP! Even if he looked like shit last fight against a loser like Frank Mir...sadly he's probably gonna get his butt handed to him by a scrub like Schaub (ok he's not a scrub, but still)...bust out the LHK and KO him! It really is sad to see how far Cro Cop has fallen in the last 6 years, I mean the dude beat Wanderlei and Barnett in one single night and rivaled Fedor as one of the most feared HWs in the world, yet he looks so dispirited these days...retirement is unfortunately around the corner I think, 37 isn't the worst age you can retire from MMA at. I really can't see the UFC keeping him unless he starts winning, even Dana commented a while back that he's not a favored one like Wanderlei, and that his performances are lacking so far.
Edit: And how can we forget about Faber/Wineland as well? Winner likely getting the next shot at Cruz, would be interesting to see if Faber can get past Wineland and see if he can take Cruz's belt at 135 as opposed to the 145 where he defeated Cruz...