Best Challenger's Performance

[Frankel]

A post in the Pettis vs. RDA thread got me thinking, what is the best performance you can think of where a challenger took the title from the champion? It's one thing to put on a dominant performance, it's another entirely to do it against a champion; psychologically that must be a very hard thing to do. I think RDA's certainly has a case for being up there, Jones vs Rua is another one that springs to mind in somewhat recent memory. Holly Holm was clearly unphased by the situation and dismantled Ronda. What others are there?

*EDIT* - Also, before Conor fans go nuts - and as impressive as what he did to Jose Aldo was - it was so short that I decided not to mention it. I am thinking more of like complete destructions of the champion where the challenger showed how superior they were in many areas.

 

[Le Choad]

Condit over Robbie. Oh wait.

 

[Jawth]

Honestly it's gotta be Conor and I'm not even a fan, starching a guy in 13 seconds is hard to top.

Second is probably Jones over Shogun. Penn over Hughes I is up there too.

 

[Minnja]

Anderson v. Franklin

 

[Cynfocus]

Randy/Tim
Jon/Mauricio
BJ/Matt #1
Cain/Brock

 

[Cynfocus]

Anderson v. Franklin

Man to think I didn't mention that one. Well done.

 

[76Knockout]

Jones/Shogun is about as decisive and dominant as it gets IMO.

 

[Barnfargen]

Anderson v. Franklin

I second this post

 

[Jawth]

Anderson v. Franklin

Ooh, that's a good one. Can't believe I didn't think of it. There was a point in the fight where they were clinched up against the cage and Franklin looked legitimately terrified of Silva.

 

[Hans Gercmiov]

TJ vs Barao was pretty much flawless.

 

[sirmorbach]

GSP, over both Hughes and Serra.

 

[Frankel]

Anderson v. Franklin

I also can't believe I forgot that one. Good shout.

 

[Fatal Catro]

Werdum over Cain.

 

[dildos]

bj vs hughes 1

shogun vs machida 1 - robbery
shogun vs machida 2 - bliss

randy vs big timmeh

 

[LukeSkyRutten]

Anderson v Franklin. Conor stopping Aldo was good, but Anderson left zero doubt with Franklin. It was flawless in basically every area where you said, there is literally zero chance this guy could ever beat Silva. Shogun v Bones was similar.

 

[Dart Feld]

Woman vs child

 

[Kyle1991]

When Cain mauled jds...

 

[aerius]

Machida vs. Evans was pretty much a flawless victory. You could count the number of times Machida got hit on one hand and have fingers left over.

Shogun vs. Machida 2. Shogun learned from the 1st fight, turned up the aggression level, and leveled Machida in 1 round, something that's never been done before or since.

 

[Jawth]

Woman vs child

Not that JJ didn't look good, but that was the most pathetic performance by a "champion" ever. TUF winner=/=champ

 

[Frankel]

Anderson v Franklin. Conor stopping Aldo was good, but Anderson left zero doubt with Franklin. It was flawless in basically every area where you said, there is literally zero chance this guy could ever beat Silva. Shogun v Bones was similar.

Yeah that's more what I was thinking. Conor vs Aldo - whilst probably being the most spectacular thing i've ever seen in the UFC - still left some questions.