Issue 144

August 2016

50 times MMA's toughest fighters went the extra mile

1 Urijah Faber vs.Mike Brown 2

WEC 41, Sacramento, 06/07/09

No hands? No problem. When ‘The California Kid’ injured both his hands in his hometown title challenge, he just threw elbows to the bitter end. He couldn’t let his fans down.

2 Matt Hughes vs.Frank Trigg 2

UFC 52, Las Vegas, 04/16/05

Hughes showed balls, even though they were almost destroyed when ‘Twinkle Toes’ thrust his knee into them. A slam, fireman’s carry and choke later and Hughes was still the champ.

3 Randy Couture vs. Pedro Rizzo 1

UFC 31, Atlantic City, 05/04/01

The heavyweight champion defended his belt despite having to endure kicks from ‘The Rock’ that permanently damaged his left leg.

4 Randy Couture vs. Gabriel Gonzaga

UFC 74, Las Vegas, 08/25/07

A broken arm inflicted by a kick wasn’t going to stop ‘Captain America’. In fact, he used his injured appendage to beat his Brazilian opponent into submission.

5 Minotauro Nogueira vs. Bob Sapp

Pride Shockwave Dynamite!, Tokyo, 08/28/02

If a 10-year-old Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira could survive being hit by a truck, ‘The Beast’ was easy work. Being slammed by the 375lb’er was all part of the plan for ‘Big Nog’, who pioneered the let-them-beat-you-until-they’re-tired-and-then-submit-them strategy. 

6 Minotauro Nogueira vs. Mirko Cro Cop 

Pride Final Conflict 2003, Tokyo, 11/09/03

In another masterful display of his go-to tactic, ‘Big Nog’ gave the Croatian a false sense of security by letting him boot him in the face for 10 minutes. He then struck with a second-round surprise – a successful takedown and sensational submission.

7 Forrest Griffin vs. Edson Paradeo

Heat FC 2, Natal, 12/18/03

The TUF 1 winner must have known he was made for the fight game when he realized a broken arm didn’t bother him too much.

8 Don Frye vs. Ken Shamrock

Pride 19, Saitama, 02/24/02

‘The Predator’ refused to tap to ‘The World’s Most Dangerous Man’s painful leg locks, which won him the fight, but left him with chronic injury issues and an addiction to pain pills.

9 Paul Kelly vs. Paul Taylor

UFC 80, Newcastle, 01/19/08

How to bring a sold-out arena of UK MMA fans to their feet: bite down on your mouthpiece and go toe-to-toe from the word go.

10 Diego Sanchez vs. Gilbert Melendez

UFC 166, Houston, 10/19/2013

‘El Nino’ said it best: he and ‘The Nightmare’ are different to other fighters because when the haymakers fly, they stand their ground and start slinging. They’d rather go down on their shields.

11 Dan Hardy vs. Georges St Pierre

UFC 111, Newark, 03/27/10 

Despite bending his arm every way but the right way, GSP just couldn’t get ‘The Outlaw’ to tap – even if he did get the win by dominating for five rounds.

12 Dan Henderson vs. Shogun Rua

UFC 139, San Jose, 11/19/11

Two of the toughest men in MMA proved their mettle over 25 minutes – trading a combined 135 full-power punches at each other’s faces.

13 Benson Henderson vs. Donald Cerrone 1

WEC 43, San Antonio, 10/10/09

It took superhuman levels of endurance for ‘Smooth’ to shrug off submissions and for ‘Cowboy’ to survive strikes. That, or their limbs and faces were made of rubber.

14 Joe Warren vs. Joe Soto

Bellator 27, Louisville, 09/02/10

Despite getting styled on and mocked for the first five minutes ‘The Baddest Man on the Planet’ lived up to his nickname. After a few deep breaths on his stool, he strutted out and got revenge with a brutal KO. 

15 Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Zelg Galesik

Dream 12, Osaka, 10/25/09

What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. ‘Saku’ threw zero strikes and got punched in the face 33 times in just 1:40, but took the pain and cranked a kneebar.

16 LC Davis vs. Hideo Tokoro

Bellator 135, Thackerville, 03/27/15

Two rounds up with a badly broken jaw, you might expect Davis to consolidate his win, but he just attacked with the same vigor as before to make one of the fights of last year.

17 Jonathan Goulet vs. Jay Hieron 

UFC Fight Night 2, Las Vegas, 10/03/05

Some people scream at the sight of blood. When ‘The Road Warrior’s head bled like an open faucet, he just fought harder until he won by TKO.

18 Michael Bisping vs. Anderson Silva

UFC Fight Night 84, London, 02/27/16

“Bisping is one of those guys, when he walks in he loves to fight,” said Dana White after ‘The Count’ had walked into ‘The Spider’s venomous strikes in search of enough of his own to win a decision.

19 Frank Shamrock vs. Bas Rutten 1

King of Pancrase Tournament Opening Round, Tokyo, 12/16/94

It’s your pro debut, you’re facing the most feared man in shootfighting and your tactic is to stick your tongue out and force a foul by provoking him into throwing a (illegal) punch to your face. Brave move.

20 Frank Shamrock vs. Tito Ortiz

UFC 22, Lake Charles, 09/24/99

Outweighed and outgunned on the ground, ‘The Legend’s strategy was simple – survive until Tito got tired, then unload.

21 Rich Franklin vs. Chuck Liddell

UFC 115, Vancouver, 06/12/10

Another member of the Octagon’s old guard who simply didn’t care that his arm was cracked by a kick and used it to drive a fist into ‘The Iceman’s face.

22 Frank Mir vs.Minotauro Nogueira 2

UFC 140, Toronto, 12/10/12 

Mir has been known for a fragile chin, but he proved his toughness this night when he recovered from the brink of defeat to pull off the UFC’s most shocking submission.

23 Georges St Pierre vs. Thiago Alves

UFC 100, Las Vegas, 07/11/09

It’s the end of round four and GSP has hurt his groin, but Greg Jackson says: “I don’t care! This is where champions are made! Nothing matters now! Hit him with your groin!” One hell of a pep talk.

24 Uriah Hall vs. Thiago Santos

UFC 175, Las Vegas, 07/05/14

The doctors tried to stop the fight when Hall broke his toe, but he kept kicking to win. “I had to overcome it,” he said. “Every movement, my bone shifted out of my skin.”

25 Vitaly Bigdash vs. Igor Svirid

One Championship 32, Kuala Lumpur, 10/09/15 

If any people are blessed with warrior spirit, it’s Russians. None more than Bigdash, who brushed off being beaten from pillar to post in the firts five minutes to crush his Kazakh opponent 36 seconds into round two.

26 Chris Leben vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama 

UFC 116, Las Vegas, 07/03/10

Leben’s reward for stepping up on 12 days’ notice to fight in a co-main event was to be lit up for two rounds. But that chin of his pulled through again and he survived to pull off a last-gasp submission.

27 Chris Leben vs. Terry Martin

UFC Fight Night 11, Las Vegas, 09/19/07

At his peak there was no one with a tougher chin than ‘The Crippler’. Martin hit him on the button over and again to little avail, and all it took was one swing from Leben to punch his ticket to the win column.

28 Robbie Lawler vs. Melvin Manhoef

Strikeforce: Miami, Florida, 01/30/10

Imagine one leg as an axe and another as a tree. ‘Ruthless’ grinned and bore the pain to take the only chance he needed. Just one punch later, it was all over.

29 Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen 1

UFC 117, Oakland, 08/07/10

Silva had a crippling rib injury, but he fought. He absorbed 320 strikes from his nemesis, but he never gave up. The greatest come-from-behind submission victory of them all.

30 Robbie Lawler vs. Rory MacDonald 2

UFC 189, Las Vegas, 07/11/15

Kicked in the head, lip split in half and blood spraying out of your nose – most fighters would quit. Not the ‘Ruthless’ one. He made MacDonald quit.

31 Nick Diaz vs. Robbie Lawler

UFC 47, Las Vegas, 04/02/04

What do you do if you’re BJJ black belt who’s fighting the fastest-rising KO artist in MMA? If you’re from Stockton, you stand in front of him, talk smack and knock him out. 

32 Nick Diaz vs. Takanori Gomi

Pride 33, Las Vegas, 02/24/07

“He was doing some hadouken f**king punching there to me,” said Diaz “He’s knocking people out, busting their s**t up.” But he took it all, accepted a grotesquely swollen face and pulled out an incredible submission. 

33 Scott Smith vs. Benji Radach

Strikeforce: Shamrock vs. Diaz, San Jose, 04/11/09

They don’t call Smith ‘The Comeback Kid’ for nothing. Down on the cards with seconds to go, he hit a Hail Mary shot to ruin ‘The Razor’.

34 Scott Smith vs. Cung Le

Strikeforce: Evolution, San Jose, 12/19/09

A Christmas miracle! Despite getting destroyed for two-and-a-half rounds – again – Smith survived and put Le away with a shocking last-gasp salvo.

35 Scott Smith vs. Pete Sell

TUF 4 Finale, Las Vegas, 11/11/06

Giving a literal meaning to the phrase ‘gut it out’, ‘Hands of Steel’ landed a KO blow despite a crippling blow to the bread basket that had him doubled over in agony.

36 Brock Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin

UFC 116, Las Vegas, 07/03/2010

It takes a really tough guy to take a shellacking from a 265lb monster, pick yourself up, then come back to win the most glorious heavyweight championship victory.

37 Renzo Gracie vs. Kazushi Sakuraba

Pride 10, Saitama, 08/27/00

‘The Gracie Hunter’ wrenched Renzo’s arm and snapped his elbow, but do you think that would make him give up without being forced to? Not a chance.

38 Raquel Pennington vs. Ashlee Evans Smith

UFC 181, Las Vegas, 12/06/14

Only the tough survive when a knee opens a three-inch gash on their forehead. That’s why Raquel Pennington is the Rocky Balboa of women’s MMA.

39 Renato Sobral vs. triple threat

IFC Global Domination, Denver, 09/06/03

Babalu beat Trevor Prangley, ‘Shogun’ Rua and Jeremy Horn to win the toughest one-night 205lb tournament in the sport’s history.

40 Roger Huerta vs. Clay Guida

TUF 6 Final, Las Vegas, 12/08/07

‘El Matador’ proved the only way to handle a crazy ‘Carpenter’ who’s punched you silly is to come out snarling and knee him in the face.

41 Travis Browne vs. Alistair Overeem

UFC Fight Night 26, Boston, 08/17/13

‘Hapa’ is the only man who’s ever had the cojones to withstand a full-body assault from ‘The Reem’ and survive, never mind go on to knock him out cold seconds later.

42 Ronda Rousey vs. Miesha Tate 1

Strikeforce: Tate vs. Rousey, Columbus, 03/03/12

Elbows aren’t meant to bend that way! Rousey said: “Miesha impressed me, she’s a tough chick ‘cause that hurts. I’ve had my elbow dislocated before and that’s no fun.”

43 Patricio Freire vs. Daniel Weichel

Bellator 138, St Louis, 06/19/15

Getting socked up for five minutes is no big deal if you’re a ‘Pitbull’. You just take your licks and fire back with an absolute sleeper with your first punch of the second round. 

44 Nate Diaz vs. Conor McGregor

UFC 196, Las Vegas, 03/05/16

If your fight prep involves getting your “chillax on” by shooting tequila in Cabo, it’s no surprise when you take punches. If you’re a Diaz, you can still beat the ‘Fighter of the Year’ though.

45 Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard 2

UFC 125, Las Vegas, 01/01/11

Why is ‘The Answer’ so respected? Because he can get his face pounded for five minutes and still grind out a result for the next 20. 

46 Fedor Emelianenko vs. Kevin Randleman

Pride Critical Countdown 2004, Saitama, 06/20/04

Even being piledriven head-first into the mat by the ‘Randleplex’ couldn’t stop ‘The Last Emperor’, who reemerged like the Terminator to prevail.

47 Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard 3

UFC 136, Houston, 10/08/11

“When I watched Rocky it was like, this is such s**t,” said Dana White. “Nobody can take that many punches, come back and win a fight.” Edgar proved he could. Again.

48 Mark Hunt vs. Wanderlei Silva

Pride Shockwave 2004, Saitama, 12/31/04

Mr Hunt, for your third pro MMA fight how would you like to fight the five-year undefeated 205lb champ on a few days’ notice? No problem bruh.

49 Mark Hunt vs. Mirko Cro Cop

Pride Shockwave 2005, Saitama, 12/31/05

Mr Hunt, for your fourth pro MMA fight how would you like to fight the sport’s most feared fighter? No problem bruh.

50 Royce Gracie vs. the world

UFC 1, Denver, 12/12/93

Never has a huge set of stones been required more than the first Ultimate Fighting Championship, when a skinny man from Brazil took on all comers to win it all and change fight sports forever.