Issue 074

April 2011

While many MMA competitors are just as suited to football or other modern sports, some combatants seem to have been transported here from a more violent and terrifying era... 

1 Wanderlei Silva

Possibly the most aptly nicknamed fighter ever, ‘The Axe Murderer’, now a sentimental fan favourite, was once the most intimidating man in MMA. During his six-year (2001-2007) reign of terror as Pride FC middleweight champion, Silva was proudly responsible for some of the most violent scenes imaginable in a sporting context. Stamping on Yuki Kondo’s face and leaving Quinton Jackson unconsciously draped over the ropes, his blood pouring onto the white canvas, are just two that spring to mind. Silva even seemed to damage opponents without trying. His second fight with Kazushi Sakuraba ended when the Japanese superstar injured his shoulder and a sporting Wanderlei tried to console him with a hearty slap on the back that really didn’t help matters.

2 Mr and Mrs Cyborg

MMA’s own power couple are Chute Boxe products Evangelista Santos and his wife Cristiane: both share the monicker ‘Cyborg’. Starting his career way back in 1997 on bare-knuckle Brazilian events, Evangelista has entertained audiences all over the world with his homicidally aggressive displays. Cristiane, Strikeforce women’s middleweight champion is just as murderous from bell to bell. Both are terrifying enough sitting behind the mic at a press conference (him with his tattoos and her just with her physique) but in action they’re something else. See his epic Cage Rage brawl with Melvin Manhoef or her obliterations of Jan Finney and Gina Carano for evidence.

3 Karlos Vemola

A 25-year-old London-based Czech, ‘The Terminator’ is a very recent addition to the ranks of the sport’s most destructively aggressive men. Most of Vemola’s career looks like one succinct highlight reel documenting man’s inhumanity to man. While rattling off seven wins in two years Vemola only left the first minute of the fight twice, and never went the distance until dropping a dull decision in his UFC debut. Moving to light heavyweight, he took on Seth Petruzelli at UFC 122, obliterating him in the most entertaining way possible – by throwing him around repeatedly and smashing him to a first-round defeat that earned the ‘Knockout of the Night’ bonus. Boasting genuine ferocity and concussive power, he may lack the refinement of the division’s elite but anyone who provides this much action should never be short of paydays.

4 Gilbert Yvel

When the UFC announced Yvel had signed with the promotion, many eyebrows headed skywards. A long-established name with a well-earned reputation as one of the sport’s dirtiest fighters, ‘The Hurricane’ had already been forced to jump through extra administrative hoops to earn a California fighter’s licence in 2009 after Nevada turned him down in 2007. A total flop in the UFC, he went 0-3 in 2010 but the 34-year-old, 14-year veteran is known more for his vicious behaviour than for his victories anyway. Knocking out a referee, biting an opponent and trying to gouge Don Frye’s eye out (at Pride 16) are his most famous ‘red mist’ moments and all earned Yvel disqualification losses. But his gloriously brutal, poisonously partisan three-fight series with another rules-averse Dutchman, ‘Dirty’ Bob Schrijber, may have been the best showcase of Yvel’s violent nature.

5 Melvin Manhoef

Awful on the ground and utterly frightening on his feet, Melvin has fought professionally around 80 times (almost 50 of them as a kickboxer) in the 16 years since he started at just 18 years old. With a ‘kill or be killed’ approach, the perpetual hardcore fans’ favourite has only ever gone the distance once under MMA rules. Reckless, fast and immensely heavy-handed, he doesn’t have the strongest of chins, ensuring his fights are only ever dull if his opponents take the eminently sensible approach of taking him down and controlling him. After spending almost his entire MMA career in Europe and Japan, Manhoef made only his second American appearance against Robbie Lawler last January and looked set to add his name to a list of unfortunate victims that includes Mark Hunt, Kazuo Misaki, Kazushi Sakuraba and Evangelista Santos. Tearing Lawler to pieces until caught with a couple of thunderous desperation punches, Manhoef went down, hard, in one of the best three-minute fights ever.