Issue 093

October 2012

To mark the recent final chapter in the three-fight rivalry between UFC Hall of Famer Tito Ortiz and Forrest Griffin we look at five more of the sport’s greatest trilogies

1 Randy Couture vs Chuck Liddell  

Former heavyweight champion Couture and light heavyweight star Liddell met for the interim title at UFC 43. Couture was believed to be ‘too old’ and was a heavy underdog going in, but stopped Liddell in the third round. Their next fight, almost two years later at UFC 52, saw both men coming off coaching spots on the first season of The Ultimate Fighter. Liddell crushed Couture with a counter just 2:06 into the fight. They met again in early 2006 at UFC 57, and after a more competitive fight, Liddell again stopped Couture, prompting his retirement after a trilogy which helped put the UFC on the road to success.

2 Gilbert Melendez vs Josh Thomson  

No other two fighters on this list have battled each other for a full 15 rounds. Hugely entertaining California rivals and former training partners, Gil ‘El Nino’ Melendez and Josh ‘The Punk’ Thomson have three times gone the distance over the Strikeforce lightweight title. Their first fight in June 2008 saw underdog Thomson returning from shoulder surgery to lift the title in a very dominating performance. The only thing he couldn’t do was finish Melendez. Then, 18 months later, with Thomson coming off a broken ankle and 15 months on the shelf, he lost the real title to interim champion Melendez in a genuine epic, and one of the greatest fights in Strikeforce history. By far the best of their fights, and probably the best on this entire list, they went toe-to-toe all the way in a truly must-see war. In May, in by far the closest of their fights, and another great one, Melendez retained the gold via a close split decision where Thomson finished much stronger. 

3 Frankie Edgar vs Gray Maynard  

When people discuss the greatest trilogies in boxing history, they often mention Muhammad Ali’s wars with Joe Frazier. What they’re really thinking of is 1971’s ‘Fight of the Century’ and 1975’s ‘Thrilla in Manilla.’ The one in between was basically a bit rubbish. Similarly, Edgar and Maynard’s UFC lightweight battles are remembered for parts two and three – their main event title battles at UFC 125 in Las Vegas and UFC 136 in Houston. Their first fight was a dull, suffocating decision win for Maynard at UFC Fight Night 13. Many tipped ‘The Bully’ to win the second meeting, but champion Edgar survived a hellish first round onslaught and they battled to a draw. In their last outing, Edgar finished Maynard in the fourth round, ensuring that even though their series ended 1-1-1, he was widely regarded as the overall winner. 

4 Wanderlei Silva vs Quinton Jackson  

The only series on this list to cross promotional, and intercontinental boundaries, Silva and Jackson’s epic rivalry began in early 2003 with some insults and a bit of pushing and shoving. By November, they were squaring off in the finals of the Pride middleweight (205lb) grand prix in front of some 53,000 Tokyo Dome fans. It ended with ‘Rampage’ helpless after a devastating series of knees. Almost a year later, over 24,000 fans at the Saitama Super Arena saw Silva defend his title, and extend his unbeaten streak to 18, cleanly KO’ing Jackson with a knee to the face in the second round of a great brawl. They met again at December 2008’s UFC 92. The smallest live crowd of their series (around 14,000), but with a whopping one million or so pay-per-view buyers on hand at home, saw Jackson end their rivalry in stunning, concussive fashion,

obliterating Silva with the first real punch of the hotly-anticipated third fight. 

5 Fedor Emelianenko vs Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira  

In the middle of the last decade, two of the sport’s elite heavyweights battled three times over championship gold. No, it wasn’t Tim Sylvia and Andrei Arlovski fighting over the UFC heavyweight title (though their series did produce a couple of great finishes). At that time, the sport’s best and most destructive big men fought under the bright lights and in the white ring of Pride. Fedor first pounded out a convincing decision win to grab the title in just his third Pride fight. Their second meeting, in the 2004 grand prix final, was a bitterly disappointing no contest thanks to an accidental head-butt and a horrific cut to Fedor’s eyebrow. Third time around, and for both the grand prix and the heavyweight titles, Fedor again battered ‘Minotauro’ for 20 painful minutes, concluding a very one-sided but hugely important trilogy during the sport’s Japanese glory years.