Issue 045
January 2009
2007 and 2008 produced some of the best fights the sport of MMA has ever seen. Candidates for Fight of the Year, KO of the Year and Submission of the Year came in thick and fast as the sport’s top warriors went at it. Join us as we revisit the three fights you voted as winners in this year’s World Mixed Martial Arts awards.
Fight of the Year
Liddell vs Silva UFC 79
As Dana White, President of the UFC remarked, MMA isn’t like boxing. Potential winners of the Fight of the Year don’t come around too often. The noble art of pugilism doesn’t often reveal outstanding contenders for its Fight of the Year. MMA seems to yield a crop of potential candidates for this award on a monthly basis.
The latter half of 2007 and beginning of 2008 didn’t just produce worthy contenders for Fight of the Year; it contained some of the best fights we’ve ever seen. As the sport continues to develop and evolve, the fighters are putting on ever more entertaining bouts, with dozens of amazing contests in the space of a year.
The voting for this prestigious award was particularly heated, with fans evenly split between the five nominations. But one fight surged ahead to take the trophy, and that was the rollicking bout between Chuck Liddell and Wanderlei Silva.
The light heavyweights have always been the UFC’s marquee division. The magic number seems to be ‘205’, as it is where we’ve seen some of the sport’s most intriguing fights. This particular fight was, depending on who you talk to, anywhere between three and five years in the making. Liddell was seen by many as the most dangerous striker among the light heavyweights in the US, while Silva was his opposite number in the now deceased Japanese promotion Pride.
Silva’s streak of terror in Pride saw him take out everyone from Dan Henderson to Kazushi Sakuraba, and Liddell was itching for a chance to prove who was the best kickboxer. They seemed destined to meet in the Pride ring when White sent him over to represent the UFC in Pride’s ‘middleweight’ (205lb) tournament. Liddell easily handled Alistair Overeem in the first round, but met stiffer competition in the shape of Rampage Jackson. Jackson crushed any hopes of Liddell squaring off with Silva in the finals when he TKO’d the Californian kickboxer. Silva left Rampage out on his feet later that night, taking the tournament belt in the process.
When Wanderlei Silva entered the UFC Octagon and challenged Liddell on his home turf, it looked like the fight was close to happening (even if Silva did accidentally say he wanted to ‘fuck, uh, fight Chuck’) but negotiations broke down between the UFC and Pride (with Dana White furious that Pride had used their show as publicity for the competing promotion) and the fight was shelved.
Fast forward to 2007, and things had vastly changed in the MMA landscape. Pride was gone, bought out and dismantled by the UFC. Neither Liddell nor Silva was considered quite as dangerous as when the first two matches seemed possible, as both men were coming off back-to-back losses, but the prospect of finally seeing them in the Octagon far outweighed any criticism of their status in the grand scheme of things.
When they finally took to their opposite corners, it was to fulfil the fantasy of fans across the world. Two strikers of legendary stature squaring off seemed a dead-cert for an exciting fight, and they didn’t disappoint.
Described by some experts as “fifteen minutes of haymakers”, Silva and Liddell abandoned any notion of restraint and let their fists and feet fly for the full 15 minutes. The blistering pace of the fight saw the audience in attendance on their feet throughout, and fans at home on the edge of their seat. Fighting as though every world title in existence was on the line, they gave everything they had and more.
The astounding thing we saw in that fight was the way in which the Iceman seemed to genuinely enjoy himself, a flashback to the ‘old’ Chuck Liddell, that carefree confident striker with so many stoppages to his name. He didn’t manage to put away ‘The Axe Murderer’, but he did control the fight throughout, bloodying Silva and hitting him with an assortment of attacks. Wanderlei took another blow in the form of a loss on his record, his third in a row, but gave the UFC fans a taste of his frenetic fighting style that Japanese fans had come to love so dearly.
Had a glassy-eyed Hollywood scriptwriter tried to plan out how this fight would have gone, you have to wonder if they could have matched what actually transpired. As a result, it is only fitting that it should be voted
The Contenders
Roger Huerta vs Clay Guida: TUF 6 Finale
One of the most dramatic back-and-fore battles the UFC has had in recent times, this lightweight pair went at it for close to three rounds before Huerta caught Guida in a fight-finishing rear naked choke.
Eddie Alvarez vs Joachim Hansen: DREAM.3
Though this fight went unseen by many Western fans due to it taking place in Japan, plenty did manage to view it via the magic of the Internet. A blistering three-round war that will have people talking for years.
Forrest Griffin vs Quinton Rampage Jackson: UFC 86
Griffin’s ascendancy to the light heavyweight throne came off the back of a gruelling five-round battle with former champion Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson.
Miguel Torres vs Yoshiro Maeda: WEC 34
Showing the little guys can fight too, bantamweight (135lb) fighters Miguel Torres and Yoshiro Maeda fought their hearts out, impressing everyone with their skill and determination.
SUBMISSION OF THE YEAR
GSP vs Hughes UFC 79
Should encyclopaedia authors ever want to include a description of an MMA fighter, many fans would argue they should simply insert a picture of Georges St Pierre.
The French-Canadian fighter is as close to athletic perfection as you could hope for. Long limbed, lean and agile, he seamlessly blends speed, flexibility, and power into one neat package.
Showing why many consider him among the top pound for pound fighters in the world, GSP utilised every tool in his arsenal to take apart one of the greatest and most dominant champions the sport had ever seen. Matt Hughes had ruled the welterweight division even after GSP came along. Hughes had even submitted him with an armbar back in their first meeting in 2004. St Pierre had taken his revenge, TKOing Hughes in 2006 and claiming the welterweight title in the process, but a surprise loss to Matt Serra saw the Quebecer relinquish his title.
With Serra originally planned to face Hughes on this event (the New Yorker pulled out with a serious back injury) GSP stepped up on short notice to fill the co-main event slot. St Pierre was actually training with hopes of representing his country in the Beijing Olympics as a freestyle wrestler when he got the call, and he dropped his plans immediately for a third tussle with Hughes.
With one win apiece and an interim title belt on the line, the stakes were high. From beginning to end, St Pierre imposed his will on the stand-out wrestler, beating him at his own game. “My plan was to take Matt Hughes out of his game and surprise him with something he was not expecting,” St Pierre told us.
GSP stunned everyone by departing from his previous strategy of picking off Hughes with strikes, literally tossing Hughes around like a rag doll for almost two full rounds before going for the submission. “I remember there was about 30 seconds left in the round, and I decided to take a risk and go for the finish – that’s how I got the armbar.”
With the UFC title belt around his waist, St Pierre now has another trophy recognising his achievements. “Thanks to everybody for the support and for voting for me for this award,” he said. “I was very honoured and quite surprised. You guys give me the motivation that I need to stay on top.”
The Contenders
Minotauro Nogueira vs Tim Sylvia: UFC 81
Fighting for the interim heavyweight title, Nogueira had a rough time against the 6’8” striker, struggling to take Sylvia down. Craftily drawing him to the mat in the third round, the Brazilian wasted no time in slipping an arm around his neck for the submission win.
Frank Mir vs Brock Lesnar: UFC 81
Lesnar’s debut in the UFC wasn’t quite as successful as he’d hoped. Mir became the first fighter to defeat the giant wrestler, slapping on a painful kneebar in the first round of their fight.
Dustin Hazelett vs Josh Burkman: TUF 7 Finale
Young submission fighter Dustin Hazelett picked up submission of the night honours with an unorthodox yet effective armbar in this entertaining fight.
Shinya Aoki vs Katsuhiko Nagata: DREAM 3
Japanese jiu-jitsu wizard Shiny Aoki stunned the MMA world with his win over Nagata, scoring the little-seen gogoplata from the mount position. Eddie Bravo would be proud.
KNOCKOUT OF THE YEAR
Silva vs Jardine
UFC 84
Writers and analysts of the fight game love to wax lyrical about great contests. Whole books have been written on individual fights, but there won’t be any books written about Wanderlei Silva’s ferocious knockout of Keith Jardine.
It’s not because the win wasn’t impressive enough, and it’s not like there wasn’t enough intrigue going into this fight. Simply put, it’s difficult to recap a brutal 36-second KO in anything other than three words: ‘Vintage Wanderlei Silva’. No wonder that you voted it KO of the Year.
Coming off three straight losses (a KO loss to Cro Cop, another to Dan Henderson, and the dropped decision against Chuck Liddell at UFC 79) Wanderlei was at a crucial point in his career. The Brazilian, who was once one of the most feared fighters on the planet, was in serious danger of being forced into retirement.
Though still relatively young at only 32 years old, Silva had been fighting since the tender age of 20, and bore the scars from many a fierce contest. The UFC had fought hard to sign him, hoping to beef up their light heavyweight division with a legitimate ex-champion from Pride, but had been starting to look like he was damaged goods.
Facing Jardine was to be a crucial test for Wanderlei. Fighting out of Jackson’s MMA in New Mexico, Jardine held wins over Chuck Liddell and Forrest Griffin, and was far from an easy comeback fight, but Wanderlei, ever the warrior, did not shy away from the challenge the awkward kickboxer presented and seized the opportunity to remind everyone why he was called ‘The Axe Murderer’.
Sporting a shaved head and giving fans a glimpse of the tribal tattoo on the back of his skull, Silva glared at Jardine from his corner like a hungry dog at a juicy steak. Countering a low kick from Jardine with a flurry of short punches, Wanderlei dropped Jardine and pounced on him, viciously landing a few more punches for good measure before the referee could stop the fight.
“This was the hardest fight of my career,” said Wanderlei. “Everybody says it was 36 seconds, but before the match I had a hard war in my mind and the toughest time in my life. I was training a lot and I was waiting for this match a lot.”
“It took me a while to recover mentally from that loss,” Jardine said, many months after the fight. Whereas he went to the hospital after that fight, Wanderlei went back up the rankings, setting up a highly-anticipated third fight with Rampage Jackson in December.
The Contenders
Rory Markham vs Brody Farber: UFN 14
Markham was a newly signed refugee from the IFL. The Miletich product wrapped his shin around Farber’s head with devastating force, leaving Farber stiff as a board and out cold on the canvas.
James Irvin vs Houston Alexander: UFN 13
Alexander has proved he’s got dynamite
in his fists, but Irvin gave him a taste of his own medicine by dropping a huge Superman punch right on his chin in less than 20 seconds.
Anderson Silva vs James Irvin: UFN 14
The first foray from ‘The Spider’ at light heavyweight was highly anticipated, and journeyman James Irvin had the dubious honour of testing him out at 205lb. Benefiting from the extra weight behind his punches, Silva countered a kick and put Irvin on his back early in only 61 seconds.
Anthony Johnson vs Tommy Speer: UFN 13
Johnson is one of the most explosive fighters in the welterweight division; something Speer found out the hard way. Johnson brutally sprawled and brawled his way to victory and left Speer slumped against the fence not knowing where he was.
