2000-09 in MMA: Top 50 Fights Of The Decade

[wandshogun09]

On 9/21/2020 at 8:06 PM, wandshogun09 said:

I’m determined to finish this countdown this week. It’s taken way longer than I anticipated with one thing or another. Looked at the first post again just...fucking March! Only 4 fights to go and they’re all beauties so I’ll get cracking over the next few days. 

So much for this. I might actually finish this by Christmas. 

#4 - Chuck Liddell vs Wanderlei Silva - UFC 79 - Dec 29th 2007

OK, this fight was such a long time in the making. They were pretty much the two most scary and dominant Light Heavyweights on the planet between 2001 and 2006. Chuck in the UFC, Wanderlei in Pride. It was a mega dream fight for years that was starting to look like it would never actually happen. It had been promised and teased so many times and nothing ever came of it. When it did finally happen, it was years after it should’ve done, but better late than never. I’m going to go right back to the beginning on this one. 

Chuck Liddell was born in 1969 in California. His old man had walked out when Chuck was really young so he and his brother and sister were brought up by their single mum and grandad. The seeds were planted for a fighting career at a young age. Chuck’s grandad taught him a bit of Boxing so he could give the bullies a slap and then he got into wrestling in school.

He did well, eventually becoming a NCAA Division 1 wrestler. He also started training Kempo Karate and later Kickboxing when he discovered ‘The Pit’ which was run by a local badass at the time called John Hackleman. Chuck was a ‘mixed martial artist’ long before anyone knew that term.

That is actually Wanderlei Silva, not a young Clay Guida. The baby ‘Axe Murderer’ came into the world in 1976. Born and raised in Curitiba, Brazil. He actually joined the Chute Boxe Academy at just 13 years old and was already taking Muay Thai fights in dodgy venues in Brazilian backstreets at 14. I don’t know what happened in his childhood to make him go that route at that age but he clearly bloody loved a scrap almost from the off. I guess with hair like that he had to learn to defend himself early on.

Wanderlei had his first pro fight in 1996. Fuck knows how many ‘unofficial’ fights he’d already had at this point though. Started at 14 and he was 20 here. I’m guessing a lot of people got hurt in that 6 years in between. His first few official fights were under bare knuckle Vale Tudo rules, mostly in the IVC promotion.

Look at him. Like a pig in shit. He loved it. Over in the US, Chuck made his Octagon debut at UFC 17 in 1998. And that was that. They were off and running in their fight careers.

Over the years that followed, Chuck became a huge name. It wasn’t always the plan for him to be ‘the guy’ though. He played second fiddle to Tito Ortiz for years as Tito dodged fighting him under the guise of ‘not wanting to fight a good friend’. So Chuck had to take the long route facing tough fuckers like Randleman, Suloev, Bustamante, Belfort and Babalu on the way up. He had his setbacks but he kept plugging away and in 2004, the big collision with Tito finally happened.

I think Tito seeing Chuck lose to Randy Couture in 2003 is what suddenly made him OK with fighting his buddy Chuck. He fancied his chances a bit better now. But Chuck smashed him about the place and stopped him in 2 rounds. After that it was the first season of The Ultimate Fighter, which was massive for the exposure and growth of MMA at the time. As well as Chuck’s and Randy’s careers. He then knocked out Randy in the rematch to finally become the UFC Light Heavyweight champion of the world.

The Liddell era had begun and it was quite a ride. Wins over Jeremy Horn, Couture again, Babalu again and Tito again cemented Chuck as the man at 205. At least in the US anyway. Because over in Japan...

....Wanderlei Silva was wreaking havoc. He’d moved on from the bare knuckle scene and was stomping heads over in the Pride promotion. Like Chuck, he’d had some losses. But by 2001, Wandy was on fire. He’d just ended the legendary streak of Kazushi Sakuraba which was huge. Sakuraba was coming off that incredible run of wins over the Gracies and people were questioning who could stop him. Then this nutcase comes in and just destroys him. Wand went on to become the first Pride champ at 205 and won the Middleweight Grand Prix tournament in 2003. By 2006, he’d racked up wins over the likes of Sakuraba (x3), Rampage Jackson (twice), Dan Henderson, Ricardo Arona, Kazayuki Fujita, Yuki Kondo and Guy Mezger. Plus he’d gone to war with Mark Hunt who was 70lbs heavier and many felt he won. 

By this point, the talk in the MMA media and on forums like Sherdog was who had the best fighters - UFC or Pride? And the fight that always seemed to be at the centre of it all and the most hotly debated was Chuck Liddell vs Wanderlei Silva. The fact that both had been pretty much dominant in their respective promotions plus they were both so exciting to watch and always going for the knockout, it was a fight everyone was dying to see. There were two times it came very close to happening.

1) The Pride GP in 2003. Both were entered into the tournament so there was always a chance they’d meet. Dana White flew over to Japan and everything. Remember, this was when the UFC were willing to work with other organisations. They weren’t the only show in town back then and Pride was just as big, if not bigger, in the early to mid 2000s. Chuck knocked out Alistair Overeem in the first round of the tournament and things were looking good. But then Rampage took him out in the semi finals. If Chuck had beaten Rampage, we’d have got a Wandy vs Chuck final.

2) In July 2006, UFC 61 went down and it was supposed to be this great night for the company. They had the big Tito Ortiz vs Ken Shamrock rematch with coming off them coaching against each other on TUF 3. And the main event would be the rubber match between Tim Sylvia and Andrei Arlovski, who’d had 2 short and exciting fights previously in their trilogy. Anyway, Tito vs Ken 2 was a major flop. After all that buildup, Tito just crushed him in about a minute. Couldn’t be helped, these things happen in sports, but the crowd booed the fuck out of it and the whole thing just felt like a massive anti-climax. To top it off, Sylvia and Arlovski shat the bed in the main event and circled around doing fuck all for 5 rounds. Sandwiched in between those 2 letdowns though, Dana had a big announcement. We’d finally be getting Chuck vs Wandy in November!...

...and erm, Wanderlei wanted to “fuck Chuck” apparently.

Of course, this amounted to sod all as well. Pride were going to start holding shows in America and were basically using the UFC for free advertising. Chuck and Wand were clearly both up for a fight. But they were just pawns in a bigger game of cat and mouse going on behind the scenes and the Pride top bollocks had no intentions of letting the UFC stage that fight.

Dana would get the last laugh in the end though. By mid 2007, Pride was dead. And in the summer of that year, Wand was signing a UFC contract.

How happy did Dana look there? 

The big Chuck vs Wand dream match had lost a little bit of its lustre though. Since the “fuck Chuck” face off in July 2006, things had gone a bit wonky for both men. Wanderlei had been savagely knocked out by Mirko Cro Cop and Dan Henderson in back-to-back fights. He was no longer the Pride champ and he wasn’t quite the force he was a couple of years earlier.

Dana was fuming after the Hendo loss;

“I’m pissed off he (Silva) didn’t lose to Chuck. Not only are they (Pride) Number 2, they’re not the brightest bulbs on the porch either. I wanted that Wanderlei Silva fight so bad. I knew Chuck Liddell would knock him out. I knew it. And it’s gone. I don’t know. We’re trying to figure out what we’re going to do with Chuck next”. - Dana White 

But over in the UFC, Chuck’s reign as champion was also about to come to a crashing halt. Rampage fucked it all up again.

So with both coming off knockout losses and both beltless, I guess it wasn’t the ideal time for Dana and the Fertittas to make the fight. So they booked Chuck against Keith Jardine for UFC 76 in September. It was being talked about as merely a ‘warm up fight’ and then we’d see the big clash with Wandy later.

Jardine didn’t get the memo. It was a bloody battle that went 3 rounds and Jardine battered Chuck with leg and body kicks the entire time. It was nasty and Chuck was red raw down the whole one side of his body. Jardine dropped him at one point as well. When it was over, it was Jardine with his hands raised. With one very disappointed spectator watching at cageside...

Old Wandy clearly thought the Chuck fight was off again at this point. 

Thankfully, within a few weeks, the UFC just said fuck it and booked it.

There was never going to be a ‘perfect time‘ to make the fight and trying to build them up with wins was too risky and had already backfired with the Jardine attempt. Belts or no belts, it was still a fight people badly wanted to see. Chuck vs Wanderlei was on!

“Chuck Liddell vs Wanderlei Silva is not just a Mixed Martial Arts fight. It’s history. These are easily the two most exciting Light Heavyweight fighters in history. We were begging for this fight for so long but, the logistics, it couldn’t be worked out. Both these guys, you can see in their physiques, they’ve trained incredibly hard for this. You can see in their eyes, they are focused. They understand the significance of this bout. And you know, this is one for history. This is a legacy fight.” - Joe Rogan 

For the fighters themselves, there was never any real beef there. It was purely a competitive rivalry and both men believed they were the top dog at 205lbs. I think they always had a respect for each other beyond all that. 

“He’s a good striker, he’s got heavy hands and he’s aggressive. There was never any real bad blood, it was always about being the best in the world.” - Chuck Liddell 

It still got a bit heated when the weigh in rolled around though;

It’d been a long time coming and the hype and intensity was off the charts by this point. Just imagine if they had met back in 2005/06 when they were both still champions and weren’t both coming off knockout losses? Would’ve been even more insane.

Chuck Liddell vs Wanderlei Silva

UFC 79: Nemesis

December 29th 2007

Las Vegas, Nevada 

Here we go. I remember watching this at my mate’s on the Sunday night on Bravo. Didn’t have internet at my flat at the time, mobile phones were basic and I was spending most of my free time absolutely bladdered anyway so avoiding the spoilers back then was a lot simpler than it is now. My mate swore he’d avoided the results as well but he seemed to be picking all the winners correctly, conveniently enough. I was full on Wandy fanboying it and predicting him to crumble Chuck in the first round. I couldn’t be told otherwise although, style-wise, it probably always favoured Chuck.

I love the little pre-fight video for this. There’s no talking heads or waffling, it’s just basically a highlight reel of them both wrecking fuckers with some cack stock music dubbed over. Basic as shite but it’s all you need with these two. There was nothing left to talk about.

“The wait is finally over. Wanderlei Silva. Chuck Liddell. Inside the Octagon. Herb Dean our referee. GET READY WORLD!” - Mike Goldberg 

Round 1: Bit of a cautious start here with neither wanting to make the first move and drop a bollock and get clipped. Crowd is electric and nothing’s even happening yet. They’re very pro Chuck as you’d expect on his home turf.

“These are two dogs that have been staring through the cage at each other for a long time.” - Joe Rogan 

We’re about 90 seconds in and Chuck connects with the first real clean shot so far. It was a big right hand and Wand has backed right up against the fence. But just when Chuck comes after him, Wandy throws some shots. He was playing possum the little rascal. He’s paying for it now though. It seems to have pissed Chuck off.

Both throwing but Chuck’s got that extra reach and he’s landing more while Wand’s coming up short. Chuck’s the aggressor now, which wasn’t typical of him as he usually liked to draw opponents onto his punches and counter strike. But he smells blood here. ‘Chuck’ chants from the crowd and Goldy and Rogan are predictably all over his dick. Chuck’s landing some nice shots as the round goes on. This is a terrible start for Wanderlei. A disaster opening round. He does land a few digs in the exchanges late in the round but, on the whole, he’s been getting the worst of it. Liddell 10-9.

Round 2: OK, Wandy’s not arsing about anymore. He’s coming forward more, which obviously suits his style better. I don’t know what they said to him in the corner but Wanderlei appears to have been woken up and he’s doing much better so far in this round. He’s getting the kicks going now as well as walloping in some hard hooks in close quarters. Wand puts Chuck on his arse...

And this sums up how biased the commentary was. Chuck wasn’t badly hurt or anything but here Wanderlei scores a legitimate knockdown, and what does Rogan say? “Good right hand before he went down though.” Yes. He’s talking about a punch Chuck landed a second before he was knocked down. Then Goldberg is saying how ‘the look in Chuck’s eyes’ has got even more intense or something. Get out. I know it’s UFC vs Pride and Chuck was their boy but just...fuck off. Chuck cracks him with an elbow in close against the fence and Wand’s eyebrow is pissing blood immediately. A minute left of the round and they’re going to fucking town now. Both still throwing bombs. Wand connecting with some meaty shots again. Chuck nails him with a flush right hand and another slobberknocker ensues. 

This is wild. Crowd is going proper berserk. Liddell gets a takedown right as the round ends. Could go either way with that round. I had it Wanderlei 10-9, he bossed about 4 minutes of it and had that knockdown. But Chuck’s flurry in the last minute or so was big. Amazing round either way.

Christ, Rogan bias gets worse. During the replays, they show Wand’s knockdown again and this time Rogan minimises it as “that was the right hand that Chuck landed very well but then he slipped trying to move away”. A slip. Shit off Joseph.

Round 3: Chuck comes right out with a takedown straight away which nobody expected. He lets Wandy back up almost immediately but it was smart as it’ll keep him guessing. Both swinging leather again now.

This is fucking awesome. Chuck lands that big looping overhand right he loved but Wand takes it and keeps coming forward. Jesus. Whatever was left of either man’s chin, I think they left it in the cage on this night. Wandy throwing kicks but then Chuck absolutely bloody clobbers him with a big spinning backfist...

Wand’s in trouble this time. He backs up to the cage again but Chuck is coming right after him with more punches.

He’s really laying into Wandy here but Wand’s firing back just enough and moving just enough to avoid the stoppage. Wand’s survived the onslaught and now Chuck’s taking deep breaths and looking up at the clock. He might’ve emptied the tank with that all out assault. There’s 2 minutes left and they both look worse for wear. Wandy from the damage and Chuck from exhaustion. Chuck with some more punches though. Wanderlei’s got cauliflower face but he’s still trying. Bless him. They both look about done for the last minute or so. They’ve left it all in there. Chuck with another takedown to seal the round with seconds to go. And that’s a wrap. Liddell 10-9. 

Winner - Chuck Liddell by unanimous decision.

“I never thought it would make it through all three rounds. Between the two of us we both hit real hard. I had him hurt quite a few times and I’d hit him three or four more times and he’d still be fighting. He’s a tough guy.” - Chuck Liddell 

Just a tremendous fight. Worth the wait. I think everyone always thought that if this fight ever happened, it’d be 2 minutes of chaos then a knockout either way. And while that would’ve been great too, this was even better. I don’t think anyone expected a 3 round epic battle like we got. I’m actually kind of glad neither of them got laid out.

Dana was practically jizzing himself into a state of dehydration after the fight. Look at him backstage with Wandy here;

It was that kind of fight though. Everyone was buzzing after the show. Poor GSP and Matt Hughes had to go out and follow this mayhem.

Looking back at this now, I’m so glad it happened when it did. 2007 was probably THE very latest they could’ve left it before Chuck became a complete shell of himself. If they’d delayed it any longer by trying to ‘build’ both guys up more, I’m pretty sure we’d either have never seen these two fight or it’d have happened when Chuck’s jaw was just crumbs and it wouldn’t have been anything close to what we got. It was all downhill from here. Chuck never won a fight again. His chin had been fading for a while but it officially died in his next fight when Rashad Evans flattened him. Then he got put away by Shogun and Rich Franklin, retired, then came back a decade later and got slept by Tito Cunting Ortiz of all people. I still fucking hate that that happened. Wanderlei had his ups and downs himself but nowhere near as bad as Chuck. He still had those corkers with Brian Stann and Cung Le and had that win over Bisping. He’s done now though. His last 2 fights in Bellator have confirmed that.

A stone cold classic. Like with any great fight, there was always a bit of talk about a rematch. But really, I’m glad it never happened. Like I said, them fighting any later than they did would probably be sad to watch as all Chuck’s fights from 2008 on were. Them just going out and having that one banging fight and leaving it at that was the way to go.

[Egg Shen]

brilliant wand.

[jimufctna24]

23 hours ago, wandshogun09 said:

I was full on Wandy fanboying it and predicting him to crumble Chuck in the first round. I couldn’t be told otherwise although, style-wise, it probably always favoured Chuck.

I think it would have been a very different fight had they met in the finals of the 2003 MW GP. 

It was only after his losses to Rampage and Couture that Liddell improved his footwork and tightened up his striking. Moreover, as Rogan mentioned on the UFC 49 broadcast, it was only after 2003 that Liddell became more disciplined and stopped half-arsing it in training.

A while back, Slack studied Wanderlei's game and found that his decline could be partially attributed to him abandoning his jab, which he used create opening to land his hooks. In the latter stages of his career, particularly after 2005, Wanderlei instead threw wild hooks with no set-up, which left himself open to counters. Furthermore, the larger UFC cage made it more difficult for him to back his opponent into a corner, where he could flurry or attempt to enter the Thai clinch.

It's possible that Liddell would have still beaten Wanderlei in 2003. Liddell always had knockout power and Wanderlei's chin was never the best. But I wouldn't have been shocked if it went the other way either. 

 

[wandshogun09]

Right then. I’ve got the week off work so I think I’m actually going to finish the Top 3 this week. Maybe.

#3 - Shogun Rua vs Antonio Rogerio Nogueira 1 - Pride Critical Countdown - Jun 26th 2005

This was a beauty. No grudge or bad blood. You wouldn’t expect it from these two anyway, they must be two of the most nice, chill and placid guys in the history of the sport. Even though there’d been a fairly heated competitive rivalry between the opposing camps - Chute Boxe and Brazilian Top Team - it didn’t seem to have any bearing on this fight. There was a lot at stake though. It was part of the 2005 Middleweight Grand Prix Tournament. And this time there was an even bigger collection of entrants than the epic 2003 version won by Shogun’s teammate and buddy Wanderlei Silva. The 2003 GP was an 8 man tournament. For 2005 they doubled it to 16 and on the whole it was a tougher field of fighters.

Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua was just 23 years old here and 9-1 in his young career. He’d gotten into MMA following in the footsteps of his older brother Murilo ‘Ninja’ Rua and made his debut in late 2002. Like most of the Chute Boxe lot, he was wild and aggressive and had immediate success on the smaller shows in Brazil. He stopped his first few opponents but got submitted in his fifth pro fight by the much more experienced Babalu Sobral. In October 2003, due to his connections through his big bro and Wanderlei Silva, he made his Pride debut. He was merely a prospect at this point and was kept on the Bushido shows. But he made an impression right away racking up knockouts over tough Japanese veterans like Akira Shoji, Akihiro Gono and Hiromitsu Kanehara.

Very early on he was being hailed as the ‘next Wanderlei’ and was already overshadowing his brother. And in early 2005 when the Grand Prix was being announced and put together, Shogun was thrown in as a bit of a wildcard. To spice it up even more, he’d be matched up with Rampage Jackson in the opening round of the tournament. A fight Shogun had called for after Rampage’s dodgy decision win over big brother Ninja at Pride 29 in the February. Nobody really knew what to expect. Shogun had shown a lot of promise but he was still kind of wet behind the ears and Rampage was tough, tested and a big step up.

Didn’t matter. Shogun obliterated him in the first round. It’s still ridiculous to watch back the way he just marched forward and made a highlight reel out of Rampage. 360 kicks, a brutal series of knees to the body from the Thai clinch, uppercuts, soccer kicks. Rampage got annihilated. And Shogun had done it with ease. Even more impressively than his mentor Wandy had. This wasn’t even competitive. A statement was made. Shogun was legit. But now he was in the deep end and swimming with the sharks. Could he keep this up for the rest of the tournament?

Antonio Rogerio Nogueira AKA Little Nog. Similar story to Shogun in a way. He got into MMA with his brother and, like Shogun, this was his opportunity to jump out of his shadow. He was 29 years old and 11-1 at this time. He’d been mixing at a high level for longer than Shogun and already had wins over Alistair Overeem, Kazushi Sakuraba, Guy Mezger and Tsuyoshi Kohsaka. And in the opening round of the GP, he’d submitted Dan Henderson via armbar. He was on fire at this time and trying to achieve at 205 what his twin brother had done at Heavyweight.

So the quarterfinals were set. Shogun vs Little Nog. Chute Boxe vs Brazilian Top Team.

Shogun Rua vs Antonio Rogério Nogueira - Middleweight Grand Prix Tournament Quarterfinal

Pride Critical Countdown 2005

June 26th 2005

Saitama, Japan 

Man, these two look so young here. I know they were but, fuck. I forgot how much they’ve actually aged. 15 years isn’t that long. Anyway...

Round 1: They’re wasting zero time here. Both engaging right away but Shogun uses Nog’s aggression against him and gets a takedown. Nog’s too slick though and Shogun doesn’t want to play around with that this early on. Back on the feet and it’s a bit of a bull vs matador thing. Shogun keeps coming forward and throwing hard shots but Nog’s moving well and having success landing nice counters. So much success that...

He puts Shogun on his arse with a nasty right hook. The fucking sound that made was sickening. Don’t know how Shogun ate that and popped back up so fast. The crowd has erupted and this is turning into a war now. Nog’s looking really good here on the feet, to the point Shogun takes him down again because he’s getting the worst of it. Nice grappling exchanges on the ground here. And now Shogun’s starting with the diving punches.

Love that picture. Shogun doesn’t really seem to know what to do in Nogueira’s guard though. He doesn’t want to risk getting caught with a submission so he just keeps standing up and spamming that diving punch and trying to land stomps. It’s weird because everyone probably expected Nog to try to grapple and Shogun to strike but every time they’re standing, Nog’s catching him over and over and it’s forcing Shogun to go the takedown route. Bit of an unexpected role reversal but both are having success with it. Shogun’s looking a bit frazzled on the feet late in the round and Nog’s landing clean.

His hands are looking good here. Mauro and Bas are speculating whether the pressure of the occasion has overwhelmed Shogun but he manages to hold it together and take Nog down again. He’s doing some good work on top here, avoiding Nog’s submission attempts and landing some nice ground and pound. He ends the round strong but I’d definitely say Nogueira got the better of the opening 10 minutes.

Round 2: Shogun gets the early takedown right away but it goes nowhere. Nog again finding a home for that southpaw left. Early signs of Shogun’s now legendary granite chin on display here. He keeps getting takedowns but he can’t do much with Nog once he gets him there due to Nog’s defensive BJJ and him threatening with Kimuras, armbars and triangles off his back. Now Shogun starting to land on the feet.

Slugfest alert!

And Shogun takes him down yet again. Shogun showing some solid submission defence here. This is such an evenly matched game of violent chess. And Shogun ends it in top position again.

Round 3: Quick exchange of punches and they’re scrambling about on the ground again. Now both standing and connecting with punches again. Christ. They’re up and down constantly. It’s a gruelling battle. Just when it looks like Nog’s getting the better of the boxing again...

Shogun decks him!

Nog’s still in it but Shogun’s trying to follow up by dancing on his fucking face. Nog weathers it. 2 minutes left on the clock and Shogun’s looking fresher now and starting to pull ahead. Both throwing with bad intentions in the final minute and Nog’s going all out with one last flurry. They wind up on the ground yet again with both exchanging top position as the bell rings. It’s done. What a fight.

Winner - Shogun Rua by unanimous decision. 

Razor close. Genuinely could’ve gone either way and you couldn’t gripe. I used to think Nog got a raw deal here but it really was close enough to where either winning is perfectly fair. If it was scored round by round then I’d say Nog won the first and Shogun took the third. The second was up in the air. But under Pride’s ‘score the fight as a whole’ system, I can definitely see why Shogun got the nod. Pride always put more stock in who ended the fight stronger and it certainly felt like the momentum shifted Shogun’s way in the second half of the fight. Fucking hell though it was close. Both scored knockdowns, Nog won most of the striking, particularly early, Shogun controlled a lot of the grappling. You can barely split them.

Of course, Shogun would ultimately go on to win the whole tournament.

He stopped Alistair Overeem in the semi finals, then walked right through Ricardo Arona in the finals. An insane run of performances. Especially from a young up and comer who was relatively unproven going in. Imagine today, a 16 man tournament at 205 with the likes of Jones, Blachowicz, Reyes, Santos etc all in it. And some 23 year old kid just waltzes in and runs the field? 3 first round stoppages over established names and the FOTY in the only fight he didn’t finish. Mental. This really kind of signified a changing of the guard for Chute Boxe. By this point, Wanderlei was at the tail end of his prime and this felt like the baton was being passed to his protégé.

From there they both went on different paths before they would eventually meet again. After Pride fell to bits in 2007, Shogun’s transition to the UFC was anything but smooth. There was the loss to Forrest Griffin plus the knee injuries started. He missed a good 18 months and to have his knee completely reconstructed. But he came back with a vengeance knocking out Chuck Liddell and Lyoto Machida to become the UFC Light Heavyweight champion.

Conor who? That’s your real champ champ right there. Yeah it all went tits up once the Jon Jones era started but it was a lovely moment all the same. Nogueira had a nice little run until about 2010 when the injuries and losses started piling up. His UFC highlight was probably his debut when he knocked the bollocks out of Luiz Cane, or the night he caved Tito’s ribcage in. 

Shogun and Nogueira fought twice more, in August 2015 and July 2020. A trilogy spanning 15 years! 

Shogun won both but, like their classic in Pride, they were both so close. They weren’t a patch on the first fight but still really fun competitive fights. And while the decision didn’t go his way, Nogueira retiring after the third fight was an ideal way for him to bow out. I feel a bit bad for Nogueira actually. The record books say he went 0-3 to Shogun but it really doesn’t tell the whole story of their series and with different judges it could’ve easily been the other way around with Nog going 3-0. 

[jimufctna24]

38 minutes ago, wandshogun09 said:

He stopped Alistair Overeem in the semi finals, then walked right through Ricardo Arona in the finals. An insane run of performances. Especially from a young up and comer who was relatively unproven going in. Imagine today, a 16 man tournament at 205 with the likes of Jones, Blachowicz, Reyes, Santos etc all in it. And some 23 year old kid just waltzes in and runs the field?

I would be less surprised if someone ran through the 205lbs division of today. Back in 05, the 205lbs weightclass was one of the best in the sport and Pride probably had most of the division' top fighters. Rampage, Wanderlei, Arona, Lil Nog, Hendo, Belfort and Overeem all entered the 2005 GP. As did the incredibly sexy Dean Lister and the true GOAT Kazushi Sakuraba. 

By contrast, the light heavyweight division of today is one of the weakest in the sport. Sure, the light heavyweights of 2020 are probably better than the light heavyweights of 2005, but none of its fighters should be featured on P4P lists like say Shogun was in 2005. The quality of the division has progressed much slower than other divisions, especially over the past decade or so.

It's currently begging for a truly great modern fighter to waltz through its top contenders. 

Edited October 26, 2020 by jimufctna24

[wandshogun09]

I probably should’ve used Welterweight as the example there actually. Like if they did a Grand Prix today in the UFC at 170 and had Usman, Burns, Covington, Edwards etc and a guy like Chimaev or Rakhmonov just blitzed through them. It’d be pretty crazy to see a guy go from relative obscurity to the top of a loaded division in such a span of time. I mean, Shogun was beating Kanehara low down the card at Pride 29 in Feb 2005, by August he’s got the GP trophy and belt and the scalps of Arona, Overeem, Nogueira and Rampage on his resume. 

[ElCece]

I loved that tournament, used to play it once a month for a while. Sadly was my introduction to Pride. 

[wandshogun09]

3 minutes ago, ElCece said:

I loved that tournament, used to play it once a month for a while. Sadly was my introduction to Pride. 

Has Lister vs Arona finished yet? 

[jimufctna24]

Shame Dean didn't win the tournament to be fair. 

[ElCece]

19 minutes ago, wandshogun09 said:

Has Lister vs Arona finished yet? 

Yes wouldn't be my go to bout! 

[wandshogun09]

#2 - Josh Thomson vs Gilbert Melendez 2 - Strikeforce - Dec 19th 2009

OK then. Wanted to include more Strikeforce in this countdown but a few fights just narrowly didn’t make the cut. This one genuinely deserves to be at least in anyone’s Top 5 though. A proper classic.

Josh Thomson was 16-2-0-1 at the time of this fight. Trained out of AKA in San Jose so he was very much a home fighter in the California based Strikeforce promotion. He’d been in and out of the UFC previously but his stay there was mostly remembered for him getting his head kicked off by Yves Edwards. He’d had some good wins though over the likes of Duane Ludwig, Hermes Franca and Rob McCullough.

Gilbert Melendez had an almost identical record to Thomson at 16-2. He was also a Cali guy and trained at Cesar Gracie’s gym along with Jake Shields and Nick and Nate Diaz. His notable wins at this time included Tatsuya Kawajiri, Clay Guida, Rumina Sato, Hiroyuki Takaya and Olaf Alfonso.

In 2006, Melendez beat Guida in Strikeforce’s second ever show to become their first Lightweight champion. And in June 2008, him and Thomson would cross paths for the first time.

It was a pretty good fight that went the full 5 rounds but when it was over, there was no doubt we had a new champ. Thomson took it clearly, winning 50-45 on all three judges scorecards. Melendez later complained that Thomson “just ran” from him the whole fight. Typical Diaz teammate excuse making.

Later in his career, Thomson became known for being injury prone and it was around this time that that really started. He was supposed to make his first defence of the title in November 2008 against his old headkicking nemesis Yves Edwards but had to pull out with a foot injury. Then they tried to book the Melendez rematch twice in 2009 and Thomson pulled out both times. First their scheduled April fight got cancelled when Thomson went down with a broken ankle. Then their planned August fight got binned after Thomson broke his leg. Disaster. Melendez fought replacements on both cards and got knockout wins over Rodrigo Damm and Mitsuhiro Ishida, who had previously beat Gil in Japan back in 2007. And with Thomson’s health becoming more and more in question, Strikeforce crowned Melendez the interim champ until more was known about the status of Thomson’s injuries.

Scott Coker attempted one more time to make Thomson vs Melendez 2 happen in 2009. Would the third time be the charm?

Josh Thomson (c) vs Gilbert Melendez (ic) - Lightweight Title

Strikeforce: Evolution

December 19th 2009

San Jose, California 

Yes. So this time it’d be a unification match. Champ vs Interim Champ. Thomson actually made it to the venue in one piece. The rematch was on!

Round 1: Kind of a cautious start here but it doesn’t take long for the flurries to start flying. Less than a minute in and they’re going for it. Gil trying and failing to get an early takedown and Thomson’s looking sharp in these early striking exchanges. Melendez lands a nice right but Thomson catches him right back. Melendez wants that takedown but he’s having no joy. Bit of a wild exchange of punches towards the end of the round.

Melendez lands the best shot but Thomson again returned fire with a hard kick to the ribs. Thomson with a combination just before the buzzer. Competitive but Thomson takes the opening round 10-9 for me.

Round 2: They both start slowly again, circling and waiting for an opening. Thomson throws a kick and Gil catches it and drops him. Thomson doesn’t look hurt, seemed to be more of a balance thing but it’s a confidence booster for Melendez and he’s bringing the fight to Thomson now. Brief timeout after Gilbert knees him in the spuds and we’re back at it. Melendez has definitely upped the aggression. But he’s still getting nowhere with the takedown attempts. Final minute of the round and Thomson rips a sweet quick left to the body and seems to have Gilbert on the back foot a little bit. But no, Melendez starts fucking swinging back and they’re just in a blur of punches.

Melendez gets the better of it and drops Thomson twice in the same flurry. Thomson’s fucked but he somehow survived it and is tying him up with the rubber guard from the bottom. He buys himself enough time to see out the round but that was big for Melendez and he evens things up.

Round 3: Thomson, miraculously, looks fully recovered. He’s backing Melendez up with kicks. Both landing their share of strikes. Thomson is clearly the better technical striker but Melendez kind of makes up for that with a bit of a power advantage. His punches are wider and loopier but they seem more hurtful when they land. Bit of a slower round for the first half but starts picking up again in the last 60 seconds. Thomson goes for a late takedown to steal the round but Melendez is having none of it, stuffs it and lands a hard leg kick as the round ends. Got Melendez shading that one. Just about.

Round 4: Thomson comes out with a headkick that just brushes off Gil’s bonce. Thomson finally gets a takedown but Melendez is right back up and they’re windmilling punches again. Melendez starting to connect more now. Thomson going more with kicks now but Melendez keeps catching them and landing punches. He was always good at that. This is another close one. Thomson with another good body shot but Melendez fires back.

Last 30 seconds is shaping up to be chaos but Melendez eyepokes him and it kills the moment. They restart but the round’s pretty much over. Close but probably give this one to Melendez as well. So I’ve got it 39-37 Gil going into the final round. Thomson needs a finish by my scoring.

Round 5: Thomson comes out aggressive. Maybe he senses he needs a finish as well. A Thomson body shot ignites another mini slugfest. Both landing hard shots here. Thomson is definitely going for the finish. You can see he’s sitting down on his punches more now. They’re fucking going balls to the wall now and it’s awesome. Melendez with a big uppercut somewhere in the madness that finally backs Josh up. Thomson’s looking a bit knackered now.

And Melendez catches another kick and drops him again. Crowd’s going mad. Thomson manages to get back up but Melendez is on him like glue. Back up with 2 minutes to go and Thomson looks fired up but not for long and he’s quickly breathing heavy and moving slow again. He still keeps throwing though despite the exhaustion.

Beautiful takedown from Thomson and he’s got Gilbert’s back! He can’t maintain it though and Melendez is back up. Both emptying the tank and going nuts in the last 20 seconds or so. But it goes the distance. Yet another close one but it’s Melendez 10-9 again for me. So I’ve got him winning 49-46.

Winner - Gilbert Melendez by unanimous decision.

Yep. Definitely felt like Melendez won. It’s one of those fights though where pretty much every single round was really close so my 49-46 doesn’t really seem fair to Thomson but that’s how I scored the rounds. Melendez wasn’t winning most of them by much but I did have him edging them. The knockdowns were literally all that swung a couple of them his way.

An incredible fight though. For me, maybe the best fight in Strikeforce history. Only Nick Diaz vs Paul Daley from 2011 rivals it for me.

They fought once more in May 2012.

By this point there wasn’t really any major expectations. They were just side dressing for the big Heavyweight Grand Prix final between Daniel Cormier and Josh Barnett. They’d never recreate the magic of the 2009 clash. And on top of that, Thomson’s issues with injuries had only worsened in the 3 years since they last fought. The general feeling seemed to be that this fight would signify the career trajectories of both men. The first fight in 2008 came just before Melendez had really hit his stride and Thomson won comfortably. The second fight in 2009, Melendez had improved, it was close and he won a FOTY thriller. Now in 2012, it was expected that Melendez had overtaken a shopworn Thomson and would win handily. Even in the run up to this third fight, speculation was rife online about a week before that Thomson had injured his knee AGAIN and the fight was in jeopardy. But the fight went ahead.

And to everyone’s surprise, Thomson gave Melendez another back and forth war that was only a shade below the quality of their 2009 classic. Melendez won a split decision but it was such a close fight. I had Melendez edging it by a point but Thomson fought his arse off and a lot of people thought he nicked it. Just watched it again now and, honestly, it really should’ve been in my 2010-2019 countdown. That was a real oversight.

A hell of a trilogy. I’ve heard people say it’s the best in MMA history but I’m not going that far. The first fight, while not bad, takes it down a couple of notches for me because it was so clear a win for Thomson. It’s definitely up there though. I think Eddie Alvarez vs Michael Chandler actually had the best shot at being the best MMA trilogy ever but we’re very unlikely to ever get a third fight now sadly.

Anyway, they’d both kind of peaked by the end of their trilogy. Strikeforce was done and dusted not long after their 2012 rubber match and they both ended up in the UFC. Thomson started well, stopping Nate Diaz with a crushing headkick on FOX in his Octagon return. To this day, he’s the only man to end Nate with strikes.

Brutal. You know it’s a bad one when Nick Diaz throws the towel in.

That was Thomson’s last real moment of glory though. He dropped 3 losses after that (although I think I had him winning the Bendo fight) and he was gone from the UFC again. He finished up in Bellator, won two then got sparked by Patricky Pitbull in 2017. That was that.

Melendez had a really rough run post-Strikeforce. He fought 7 times in the UFC and went 1-6. He did have that awesome slobberknocker with Diego Sanchez and he also had a controversial points loss to Bendo which most felt he won. But he lost 5 in a row at the end and had a USADA suspension in there to boot and that was that.

I think he just got to the UFC a little bit too late but, truthfully, I don’t think there’s ever been a point where he’d have been ‘the man’ in the UFC’s 155 shark pool. There was always someone I think would’ve beaten him at every stage in the division’s history. He was up there though, I do think he was one of the best Lightweights on the planet for a good few years.

There was actually talk of Melendez vs Thomson 4 going down in Bellator at one point. Well, Thomson was angling for it in 2018 anyway...

“There are a couple of fights that I would really like to get. And let’s not beat around the bush, there is a small chance that Gilbert Melendez may be free in one year. So you never know. Gil and I, I feel like it would be great to do it in Bellator. Who knows? There’s so much that could happen between now and then.” - Josh Thomson 

I think Scott Coker would’ve been all over that if he could’ve got Melendez in the fold. Melendez vs Thomson was probably THE rivalry that is synonymous with Strikeforce more than any other. From almost the beginning of the promotion to the dying days. It’s a trilogy that you know is near and dear to Coker. He’d have jumped all over a fourth fight. But Melendez kept losing in the UFC, was released in late 2019 and, although he didn’t actually use the word ‘retired’, he put out a statement after his last loss which pretty much confirmed he was done fighting.

Then in January 2020, Thomson officially announced his retirement. He’s doing pretty well at the desk as one of Bellator’s colour commentators. Bellator get a bit of flack for their commentary, it’s the one area of their production that needs fixing. But I quite like Thomson in the role, to be fair. Find him much less annoying and a lot more tolerable than most of their announcers and pundits.

A fantastic rivalry. But this second fight in 2009 was something else. The best of their series and probably the best fight either man had in their careers.

[wandshogun09]

OK then. I’m FINALLY finishing this thing. Can’t believe how long it’s taken me. Fucking March this started. Here’s numero uno...

#1 - Roger Huerta vs Clay Guida - The Ultimate Fighter 6 Finale - Dec 8th 2007

I’m guessing this wouldn’t have been most people’s’ number one but balls to it, it’s mine and I absolutely love this fight. For years it was my favourite MMA fight above all others but then shit like Lawler vs Rory 2, Hendo vs Shogun 1 and others eclipsed it. I’ll admit right now though, looking back at this card in particular, I really should’ve included the War Machine vs Jared Rollins fight in this countdown. That was a real oversight on my part.

Anyway...

At the time of this fight, man, Roger Huerta really felt like he was going to be something special. He was 24 years old, 19-1-1-1 and, after debuting in the UFC in September 2006, he’d won 5 straight in just 11 months. Most notable was his points win over Leonard Garcia in the FOTN at UFC 69. That was the same night Matt Serra shocked the world and upset GSP. Obviously that was the main talking point coming out of that show but Huerta vs Garcia got rave reviews and it put Huerta on the map. And on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

Might not seem such a big deal these days but to anyone who was following MMA back in 2007, the sport just didn’t get this kind of coverage in the wider sports media. It was still the days of Spike TV and seasons of TUF with fighters wanking into sushi. This was big at the time. Huerta was young, a handsome bastard, exciting in the cage, Mexican, he had a hard luck underdog backstory. He ticked so many boxes as a can’t miss breakout superstar. He could’ve been to the UFC what Oscar De La Hoya was to Boxing in the 90s. He just had to keep winning. This would be his first UFC main event.

But Clay Guida would be his toughest test to date. He was 22-8, a former Strikeforce Lightweight champion and had wins over Josh Thomson, Marcus Aurelio and Bart Palaszewski. He’d also gone the distance in competitive battles with Gilbert Melendez and Tyson Griffin. And given his wrestling heavy style, relentless pace and seemingly never ending cardio reserves, he was well equipped to ask some questions of Huerta and drag him into deeper waters than we’d seen before.

So the stage was set. Huerta and Guida getting their first taste of that UFC main event spotlight. This kind of felt like a reward for the 155ers. The Lightweight division had only been resurrected in 2006 and they’d just done TUF 5 with the likes of Nate Diaz, Gray Maynard, Joe Lauzon etc emerging from it. In 2007, the Lightweights really killed it. Frankie Edgar vs Tyson Griffin, Spencer Fisher vs Sam Stout, Griffin vs Guida, there were so many crazy fights. It’s easy to take it for granted now we’ve got a ton of little whirlwinds ranging from Strawweight up to Lightweight. But in 2007, the pace at 155 really felt like a breath of fresh air.

Roger Huerta vs Clay Guida

The Ultimate Fighter 6 Finale

December 8th 2007

Las Vegas, Nevada 

Christ almighty. A commentary team of Mike Goldberg, Joe Rogan and Kenny Florian. Ugh. This was before the days of non-title fight 5 round main events so they’ve only got 15 minutes to play with here.

Round 1: Frantic pace right away, both exchange punches and Clay quickly changes levels and gets the takedown. Huerta scrambles back to his feet but Guida is all the fuck over him and slams him straight back down.

He’s not having it. Huerta avoids taking any real significant damage and even rolls for a kneebar at one point but Clay escapes. It’s starting to get a bit wild now and Clay lands an illegal knee to the mush while Roger’s on his knees. Not nice. Brief time out and then they’re right back at it.

It’s clear Huerta is the better striker but Guida is always game and just won’t fuck off, which is making this so much fun to watch. Guida going for the takedown again, he’s hampered by the cage but doesn’t let it stop him. He manages to take Huerta’s back and starts working towards a choke but Rog isn’t playing ball and somehow ends up in top position. Now he’s got Guida’s back and goes for the armbar. But Clay reverses that and ends the round on top. Amazing. So many twists and turns. Tough one to score but I’d give a very slight edge to Guida 10-9.

Round 2: Yeah, if there was a feeling out process (there wasn’t really), it’s about done. Both come flying out throwing punches immediately. But Guida again ducks under and hits a double leg planting Huerta on his arse against the fence. Huerta has a real look of frustration on his face now. He’s got that ‘I’m feeling sorry for myself’ look on his face like my daughter when we tell her she’s had enough ice cream. Clay’s just all over him here. Must’ve been so annoying to fight him when he was like this. Huerta absolutely cracks Clay with a huge uppercut from on his knees but Clay just runs right at him! Huerta getting the kicks going now but Guida gets yet another takedown. Guida takes the back again but Huerta does a good job of squirming out of it. Fuck me. I’m gassed just watching this. Back on the feet and Huerta landing shots. But Clay returns fire and fucking wallops him with a big right...

It seems to stun him for a second and, you guessed it, Clay secures another takedown. At this point it feels like the fight is slipping out of Huerta’s grasp and Guida is beginning to run away with it. Caveman ground and pound from Clay now. Huerta weathers the storm and escapes back to his feet and now he’s really opening up. He’s got to at this point. He throws a flurry of punches but in the madness Clay fakes a takedown and...

Fucking hell! Huerta’s in deep shit here. Clay follows him to the mat and starts with the ground and pound. It’s sloppy though and this is where him being so wild probably worked against him. If he’d have slowed down just a notch here and picked his shots more carefully I really think he’d have got Huerta out of there. He was buzzed big time and there for the taking. But Guida was just going nuts flailing his arms about on top and a lot of his punches missed the target as a result, allowing Huerta vital seconds to recoup. It’s thrilling to watch regardless. The round ends with Clay on top again and that’s another 10-9 in the books for him, probably be 10-8 under today’s scoring criteria due to the onslaught in the last minute. Either way, I’ve got Clay 2-0 going into the third and final round. Huerta needs a finish.

As Mean Gene would say, you could cut the intensity with a knife as the last round is about to get underway. Big John McCarthy can hardly keep them from running across the cage.

And I’ve just realised who Guida has reminded me of all these years. The bad guy who terrorised Hulk Hogan in Mr Nanny.

That is Clay Guida, isn’t it? 

Anyway...

Round 3: They get right back to where they left off and it’s utter chaos. Both throwing and Clay shoots in for another takedown. This time though, Huerta is ready for it and catches him with a knee to the face as he ducks down...

Guida is badly rocked and Roger recognises it and follows up with another flying knee. Guida’s still swinging punches, bless him, but he’s fucked. He’s frantically going for takedowns, failing, and Huerta is lighting him up with his hands. All Guida can do at this point is go back to his bread and butter. He’s on autopilot and just lunging at Huerta’s legs trying to get the takedown. Desperate times for ‘The Carpenter’. He shoots in again but Huerta defends it, spins out and takes the back.

It’s a wrap. 

Winner - Roger Huerta by submission. Round 3 - 0:51.

Fucking phenomenal fight. Still right up there on my list of favourites. Unbelievable comeback. The very same night this fight took place, there was a bit of a little Boxing match going on in Vegas just down the road at the MGM Grand. You might remember it...

Huerta vs Guida was obviously nowhere near as big a fight or event as Floyd Mayweather vs Ricky Hatton. In skill level, significance, money or any other way you want to measure it. But when that night was over, Huerta and Guida had it beat in terms of action and excitement.

Unfortunately for Huerta though, and we didn’t know at the time, he’d already peaked here. At the end of this fight it felt like he’d arrived as a new star who could potentially be the face of the new Lightweight division down the line. But this was as good as it ever got for ‘El Matador’. Following the Guida win, there were contract negotiations that went sour with the talk at the time being that Huerta was insisting on a money figure that would’ve seen him get paid more than BJ Penn, who was the champ at the time and an established headliner and name in the sport. Obviously, the UFC weren’t having any of that. In August 2008, in the run up to Huerta’s next fight at UFC 87 against Kenny Florian, Dana was asked about the rumoured contract dispute.

“Roger Huerta has contract problems? What’s his contract problem? He signed a contract, he’s under contract, when his contract is up he’ll renegotiate a new one. In his thing he said, ‘They got me out here doing P.R.’ Yeah, moron. How do you think you make money? You don’t make money unless people know who you are and want to see you fight. Am I supposed to pay Roger Huerta to go out and do P.R? Is that how it works?” - Dana White 

Any tiny amount of leverage Huerta might’ve had went down the bog when Florian pretty much schooled him in their fight. The hype train was well and truly derailed, Huerta’s demands for ‘BJ Penn money’ went up in smoke and, with one fight left on his deal, he never fought for over a year after that and ended up landing a part in the Tekken movie.

By the time he finally returned to the Octagon in September 2009, the relationship was severed and the UFC just fed him to Gray Maynard (who was on top form at the time) on his way out the door. And that was that. He bounced about for years following that and in the last 10 years he’s gone 4-9. His record now stands at 24-12-1-1, he’s lost his last 3 in a row and he’s suffered some bad knockouts. The worst of which being this fucker punting his head into orbit in ONE years ago...

😬

We talk about ‘what ifs’ from time to time on here and, while I don’t think Huerta ever had the skills to really excel at the highest levels, I still think of him as one of the biggest examples of wasted potential in MMA. It’s hard not to imagine he couldn’t have made more of himself in the sport. Who knows, maybe he wasn’t that arsed. But whether he started believing his own hype and got the big head or what, he fell off so rapidly from seeming to be on the cusp of being a breakout star to a ‘where is he now’ in record time. Shame.

Anyway, it’s done. Eventually. Only took me about 8 months that’s my Top 50.

 

50 - Kazushi Sakuraba vs Kestutis Smirnovas (K-1 HERO’S - Aug 5th 2006)

49 - Chris Leben vs Terry Martin (UFC Fight Night - Sep 19th 2007)

48 - BJ Penn vs Takanori Gomi (Rumble On The Rock - Oct 10th 2003)

47 - Nick Diaz vs Thomas Denny (EliteXC - Jul 26th 2008)

46 - Robbie Lawler vs Chris Lytle (UFC 45 - Nov 21st 2003)

45 - Takanori Gomi vs Jens Pulver (Pride Shockwave - Dec 31st 2004)

44 - Pete Sell vs Scott Smith (TUF 4 Finale - Nov 11th 2006)

43 - Matt Hughes vs BJ Penn 2 (UFC 63 - Sep 23rd 2006)

42 - Joachim Hansen vs Caol Uno (K-1 HERO’S - Mar 26th 2005)

41 - Kazushi Sakuraba vs Rampage Jackson (Pride 15 - Jul 29th 2001)

40 - Matt Lindland vs Phil Baroni 1 (UFC 34 - Nov 2nd 2001)

39 - Donald Cerrone vs Benson Henderson 1 (WEC 43 - Oct 10th 2009)

38 - Marius Zaromskis vs Ross Mason (Cage Rage 22 - Jul 14th 2007)

37 - Jason Black vs Matt Grice (UFC 77 - Oct 20th 2007)

36 - Mirko Cro Cop vs Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (Pride Final Conflict - Nov 9th 2003)

35 - Nick Diaz vs Robbie Lawler (UFC 47 - Apr 2nd 2004) 

34 - Forrest Griffin vs Stephan Bonnar 1 (TUF 1 Finale - Apr 9th 2005)

33 - Fedor Emelianenko vs Mirko Cro Cop (Pride Final Conflict - Aug 28th 2005)

32 - Cung Le vs Scott Smith 1 (Strikeforce - Dec 19th 2009)

31 - Eddie Alvarez vs Tatsuya Kawajiri (DREAM 5 - Jul 21st 2008)

30 - Falaniko Vitale vs Robbie Lawler 1 (SuperBrawl - Jul 23rd 2005)

29 - Matt Hughes vs Frank Trigg 2 (UFC 52 - Apr 16th 2005)

28 - Takanori Gomi vs Tatsuya Kawajiri (Pride Bushido 9 - Sep 25th 2005)

27 - Jason MacDonald vs Demian Maia (UFC 87 - Aug 9th 2008)

26 - Abel Cullum vs Hideo Tokoro (DREAM 9 - May 26th 2009)

25 - Josh Barnett vs Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira 1 (Pride Final Conflict Absolute - Sep 10th 2006)

24 - Chris Horodecki vs Shad Lierley (IFL - Jun 1st 2007)

23 - Melvin Manhoef vs Cyborg Santos 1 (Cage Rage 15 - Feb 4th 2006) 

22 - Carlos Condit vs Jake Ellenberger (UFC Fight Night - Sep 16th 2009)

21 - Randy Couture vs Pedro Rizzo 1 (UFC 31 - May 4th 2001)

20 - Mark Hunt vs Wanderlei Silva (Pride Shockwave - Dec 31st 2004) 

19 - Diego Sanchez vs Nick Diaz (TUF 2 Finale - Nov 5th 2005)

18 - Tyson Griffin vs Frankie Edgar (UFC 67 - Feb 3rd 2007)

17 - Eddie Alvarez vs Joachim Hansen (DREAM 3 - May 11th 2008)

16 - Nate Quarry vs Tim Credeur (UFC Fight Night - Sep 16th 2009)

15 - Mark Hunt vs Yosuke Nishijima (Pride 31 - Feb 26th 2006)

14 - Randy Couture vs Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (UFC 102 - Aug 29th 2009)

13 - Wanderlei Silva vs Rampage Jackson 2 (Pride 28 - Oct 31st 2004)

12 - Diego Sanchez vs Clay Guida (TUF 9 Finale - Jun 20th 2009)

11 - Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs Bob Sapp (Pride/K-1 Dynamite - Aug 28th 2002) 

10 - Carlos Condit vs Hiromitsu Miura (WEC 35 - Aug 3rd 2008)

9 - Tyson Griffin vs Clay Guida (UFC 72 - Jun 16th 2007)

8 - Diego Sanchez vs Karo Parisyan (UFC Fight Night - Aug 17th 2006)

7 - Nick Diaz vs Takanori Gomi (Pride 33 - Feb 24th 2007)

6 - Don Frye vs Yoshihiro Takayama (Pride 21 - Jun 23rd 2002) 

5 - Olaf Alfonso vs John Polakowski 1 (WEC 9 - Jan 16th 2004)

4 - Chuck Liddell vs Wanderlei Silva (UFC 79 - Dec 29th 2007)

3 - Shogun Rua vs Antonio Rogerio Nogueira 1 (Pride Critical Countdown - Jun 26th 2005)

2 - Josh Thomson vs Gilbert Melendez 2 (Strikeforce - Dec 19th 2009)

1 - Roger Huerta vs Clay Guida (TUF 6 Finale - Dec 8th 2007) 

[Jacko]

Fantastic list wand really enjoyed reading it the last 8 months.

any plans for more lists in the future 

[Egg Shen]

brilliant work wand.

Fully agree though, Huerta is one of the big disappointments and 'what if' storys the sport has ever seen. He seemed set on becoming the sports biggest star but it just all went wrong. I think a big combination of factors came into play but its a shame it didnt pan out because he was great to watch.

Remember when Bellator signed him? that felt like a huge deal at the time too. Huerta was gonna be the face of the promotion, he struggled through his first fight in the promotion and it all fell apart after that.

Edited November 28, 2020 by Egg Shen

[Scott Malbranque]

Genuinely would love to put all 50 fights, in a pack, up on a certain site and name it Wands' Magic Fiddy. 

If ever there was a torrent pack to binge watch and have to hand at all times, it's that list. 

Thanks for all that effort, boss, seriously.