I've seen the ufc top 100 series and ya it had a lot of amazing fights, but i'm curious what you guys think are the greatest ufc fights when taking into consideration everything about the fight including its build up, the history of the fighters, how exciting the fight was, and the overall mystique to the fight rather than just how exciting a certain fight was. for example, the types of fights i am talking about are: silva vs sonnen I (given all the prefight buildup and trash talking, the fact that silva was in really in trouble for the first time ever in the UFC losing 4 rounds in a row and then coming back from behind to win it with a submission in the 5th) another example would be lyoto machida vs shogun I (this fight was between a pride legend with superior muay thai and the best karate fighter in the history of mma, the fight was a beautiful, technical, even fight, between two masters of striking with different stylistic backgrounds.) forrest griffin vs stephen bonnar (the first ultimate fighter finale that helped bring the sport to the mainstream, one of the most exciting fights ever) ortiz vs liddel (between two of the best lhw back then which was highly anticipated and long overdue, also was a huge suprise that Ortiz was KOd for the 1st time in his career) i'm talking about fights that would be in a history book if mma ever had one. fights that were between legends and greats of the sport that had a lot of significance. what fights would you guys add to the list?
Frankie Edgar versus Gray Maynard II Dan Henderson versus Shogun Tito Ortiz versus Ken Shamrock 1, 2, and 3
what makes a "great fight", relative to your question? Are we looking in retrospect, or are we looking at them relative to when they happened? Randy vs. Tim for the first, Gordeau vs. Tuli for the second.
Two fights standout from the early UFCs to me: Kimo vs. Royce and Frank vs. Tito. Some others I liked here Rizzo/Tank, Mo Smith/Coleman, TK/Kimo, Bas/TK, Rizzo/Telligman and last but definitely not least, Eugene Jackson vs. Royce Alger. Anyone remember when Eugene Jackson was a legit contender? I remember the last few fights on UFC Hits Volume 2 were all Eugene Jackson fights, they were trying to build him up. Anyway, Later fights include: Chael vs. Anderson I, Hughes/Penn 2, Randy vs. Sylvia, Hughes/Trigg II, Shogun/Hendo, Forrest/Shogun I, Sanchez/Karo, and Guida/Huerta
For sure, and it was a change of pace from all grapple-centric finals before. Ruas looked a beast. Kind of a pity he didn't compete more than he did at the time.
Mir vs. Nog 2 was amazing and imo was the greatest sub of the decade considering all the story there was behind it.
Steve Jennum vs Harold Howard (final of UFC 3) Jennum was a substitute who then won the whole tournament. (Rules were changed later so substitutes couldn't be in the final without having fought a fight.) I remember there was a moment in that fight in which Jennum was standing right in front of him with his hands down as if saying "hit me m'f'er", and a few seconds later Jennum had won the fight. It was kinda magic.
That was a fun fight. Harold not being the greatest fighter and it looked like he loosened quite a few of Harold
Shogun vs Hendo,Forrest vs Bonnar,Couture vs Rizzo,Silva vs Sonnen,Couture vs Liddell,Nog vs Couture,Lesnar vs Mir,GSP vs Hughes,BJ vs Hughes,Royce vs Shamrock
Kongo vs Barry seriously, that was the biggest "holy shit! what the fuck?! rewind it! rewind it!" fight ever
