Ken shamrock fujita before petey my heart
Such a bummer. Ken was going through a bad divorce, the ex dumped the kids with him, he didn't have a training camp...so much outside-the-ring bullshit. He didn't have the gas to go, but he'd just gotten back from the WWF and he wanted to fight, so he gave what he had and looked fucking incredible. They didn't call Fujita "Ironhead" for nothing, though, and he just wouldn't go away. An amazing display of sprawl-and-brawl from the catch-wrestler Ken, but he couldn't put him away in time.
I suppose it depends on your personal criteria. In my estimation, being able to come back from adversity is a stellar performance because of the perseverance and mental toughness you have to maintain for that period of time.
Sure, but I'd call it an amazing
comeback, which implies that only a
part of the performance is amazing, namely the part where you stop getting your ass kicked. If we're just talking about an amazing performance, immediately going to performances where someone gets their ass kicked a bunch is weird to me.
Ooh, good call. I didn't get total satisfaction with Hughes' crucifix beatdown on Penn because Penn's nuthuggers kept pulling the rib card, but the way that GSP brutalized Penn was so amazing to witness, all the way to GSP punching the fence because he wanted the finish so bad.
1 or 2? 1 has the iconic powerbomb, but it was a very back-and-forth fight that Newton was very much in all the way through. But 2 was Hughes with something to prove. He wanted to show the world that the powerbomb wasn't luck or a fluke, that he was truly the better fighter, and in the rematch he put on a grappling and GNP clinic that might be my pick for Hughes' most impressive performance in his entire career.
Randy vs Chuck 1.. that was amazing, pure and utter beatdown, everyone was picking Chuck to win that fight and Randy was getting old and just came off some bad loses to Barnett and Rico, that fight was all about Chuck vs Tito, and Randy was an afterthought and body to beat
Randy beat up Chuck badly in that fight, not just wrestling, but he was winning the striking clearly, Chuck got hit so much in that fight. Randy looked amazing
QFT. That's the fight that really sucked me into MMA. Even the commentary is burned in my brain. "Randy Couture is winning the stand-up battle, this is incredible!" Huge punches, aggressive TDs, and a relentless pace. He broke Chuck more effectively even than Rampage, who couldn't take Chuck down until he was gassed, whereas Randy fucking slammed him in the first minute and beat him up and took him down every round.
And then, to Chuck's credit,
his most amazing performance is the rematch with Randy at UFC 52, where he was lean, incredibly light on his feet, phenomenal footwork and angles, pinpoint accurate with his punches, strong in the clinch, and iced Randy in a couple of minutes.