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Jon Jones came out and beat down Shogun Rua as if he was a rookie fighter and not the reigning UFC light heavyweight champion at UFC 128 on Saturday night.

Jones dominated from the get-go and Rua was no match for the wunderkind Jones. Rua mounted no offense at all, his signature leg kicks nowhere to be found against the faster, bigger Jones.

Jones won the first two rounds easily, peppering Rua with shots from all angles. Rua ate continuous jabs, kicks and elbows. He could not get inside at all on Jones and was also unable to stop Jones’ takedowns attempts.

It all came to a head in the third round when Rua again ended up on the bottom and Jones landed several huge elbows that clearly hurt the champion. Rua did not surrender but instead covered up and tried to escape. But Jones held him on the bottom and continued to throttle him. Finally, Herb Dean stopped the fight at 2:37 after Shogun was no longer defending himself.

“It feels so good. It’s a testament that dreams can come true”, Jones said.

Jones will fight teammate Rashad Evans in his first title defense. Although both Evans and Jones said they would never fight each other, they will do battle for the title. Although from the looks of it in a post-fight interview, Evans doesn’t seem to want that bout.