Issue 056

November 2009

Everybody loves a good rematch. Well, that isn’t strictly true – plenty of MMA fans complain there are just too many of them. Apparently, the first fight proved the point and ‘nobody’ wants to see the same match all over again when there are so many other possibilities out there. Sometimes this is true, but generally speaking its nonsense. Some of the biggest, greatest and most lucrative fights in MMA history have been rematches. This month, Andrew Garvey celebrates five of the very best.

1 Brock Lesnar vs Frank Mir

Unquestionably the biggest fight in North American MMA history, Lesnar-Mir II headlined the pay-per-view-record-annihilating UFC 100. Mir took advantage of Lesnar’s inexperience first time around at UFC 81 to win with a first-round kneebar (after absorbing a tremendously efficient beating) but when they met again 17 months later Lesnar treated him like a very unfortunate little brother for the entire fight. The monstrous, exceptionally gifted Lesnar pulverized Mir, earning a second-round TKO win and affirming his status as the sport’s best and most dominant heavyweight (Fedor who?) while also avenging what history will likely view as a bizarrely incongruous defeat.  

2 Matt Serra vs Georges St Pierre

A perfect demonstration of just what an unpredictable sport MMA can be at times, Serra’s UFC 69 welterweight title victory over the impeccable Georges St Pierre came despite his status as an ‘undeserving’, ‘no-hoper’ of a challenger and an 11-1 underdog. Rematched for the title a year later at UFC 83 in GSP’s home territory of Montreal, their fight went as more or less everyone outside Serra’s immediate family predicted. St Pierre massacred him, ending it with some ferocious knees to the body in the second round. Few may have doubted the outcome, but thanks to GSP’s status in Canada and Serra’s inflammatory pre-fight comments this headlining fight smashed a couple of UFC records. It was both the fastest sell-out and the biggest crowd in UFC history (21,390), pulling in a whopping $5 million live gate. 

3 Mike Brown vs Urijah Faber

The biggest fight in WEC history took place in Sacramento, California, in June, and it was a rematch that drew a 13,027-strong live crowd and a more than healthy TV-rating. Hometown favorite Urijah Faber was looking to avenge his November 2008 loss to Mike Brown. Hammering Faber to defeat, Brown took the WEC poster boy’s featherweight title (after a run of five spectacular defences) in emphatic fashion. Brown-Faber II was a completely different fight. A stirring five-round, genuinely epic ‘fight of the year’ candidate, Brown walked away the winner with a well-earned unanimous decision but Faber, broken hand and all, walked away just as beloved by his vociferous fans and with even more respect from the MMA community, after a tremendous display of guts and fighting spirit.  

4 Matt Hughes vs Frank Trigg

The MMA world was very different in late 2003. Hughes was such a dominant UFC welterweight champion and the struggling promotion was so desperate for challengers they gave Trigg a title shot, and a main event, in his first UFC outing. After a short but greatly entertaining UFC 45 fight, which Hughes won with a remarkable rear naked choke on a still-standing Trigg, they met again some 17 months later at UFC 52. Much had changed in the interim – Hughes had lost and regained the belt while Trigg had put together some impressive wins. And the rematch completely eclipsed their first meeting, delivering perhaps the most frenetically entertaining four-minute fight in MMA history. Again, Hughes won with a rear naked choke but a short description simply can’t do the fight justice. If you’ve seen it, you’ll remember it. If you haven’t, you’re missing out. Get it.

5 Wanderlei Silva vs Quinton Jackson

The only pairing on this list (so far) to complete a trilogy of fights, and a legendarily personal, bad-tempered, vicious one at that, the rematch in question is their second outing. They first met in the finals of the 2003 Pride Middleweight Grand Prix tournament with Silva victorious thanks to a series of knees and a referee’s intervention. Their second fight was one of the very best of 2004, this time for Silva’s Pride title belt. And it concluded with one of the most memorable endings in MMA history. Late in the second round, Silva once again trapped Jackson in his Muay Thai clinch before delivering five brutal knees to the face. With Silva stepping aside, Jackson fell, unconscious and helpless into the ropes, his blood pouring onto the pristine white mat. Jackson won their third fight with a thunderous first-round knockout at UFC 98 but their second fight was a truly unforgettable rematch.