Issue 053
August 2009
Great rivalries are one of the most compelling things about professional sports. Plenty of sports, both team and individual, have rivalries that last years (even decades) and when those professional rivalries spill over into bitter, personal feuds they can reach far beyond a sport’s normal fanbase. There are countless examples even in individual sports, with Ali-Frazier, Fischer-Spassky, Prost-Senna and Borg-McEnroe just some of the most famous. Still a young sport, MMA has already seen plenty such feuds. Andrew Garvey looks at five of the most personal, compelling and lucrative.
1 Chuck Liddell vs Tito Ortiz
Back in 2002 Tito Ortiz was the UFC light heavyweight champion, and former training partner Liddell was closing in on a title shot. Tito seemed to be saying anything to avoid the fight. He talked about their friendship being worth more than money, his ‘entertainment’ commitments and a gentleman’s agreement never to fight each other. Chuck felt differently. He rubbished the ‘best friends’ talk and wanted his well-deserved title shot. When they eventually met in April 2004, Ortiz was no-longer champion and, after failing to take Liddell down, was overwhelmed with punches early in the second round. Rematched in December 2006 there was yet more talk, hype and relentless Internet chatter. They smashed existing UFC pay-per-view records, slipping past 1,000,000 buys. Liddell battered Ortiz to defeat once again in a fight that truly announced the UFC’s arrival as an unstoppable financial juggernaut.
2 Tito Ortiz vs Ken Shamrock
Give the ‘somewhat touchy’ Ken, an antagonist as raucously disrespectful as Tito, and you instantly have a fantastic feud. Ortiz completely dominated their fights going 3-0 over Shamrock, but the beauty of this feud (apart from the comedic moments) was the ability to generate money and fan interest. Their first meeting in 2002 pulled a then-whopping 150,000 pay-per-view buys. In 2006 their feud was rekindled as opposing coaches on The Ultimate Fighter, and their climactic fight pulled in almost 780,000 pay-per-view buys. The fight was stopped (some say) prematurely, which led to their final showdown on Spike TV – peaking at an enormous 5.7 million viewers. As for the comedy, take your pick. Tito’s inflammatory t-shirts, Ken scaling the Octagon to chastise him, Tito christening his rival ‘Slamcock’ and ‘Shamcrap’, Ken threatening to beat Tito into “a living death” and their assorted TUF 3 shenanigans. All genuinely unforgettable entertainment.
3 Quinton Jackson vs Wanderlei Silva
MMA’s most exciting, violently entertaining and evenly matched trilogy, the feud between Jackson and Silva stretches back to 2003 and involves two of the sport’s best fighters. Fueled by some of Jackson’s trademark verbal shots, they first met in the finals of the legendary 2003 Pride FC middleweight Grand Prix. A short, exciting fight ended when Silva landed 18,000 knees (an exaggeration) to Jackson’s face and the referee intervened. A year later, a truly classic fight ended with Jackson unconscious, draped through the ring ropes, blood pouring onto the pristine white mat. Many felt Silva had Jackson’s number, but when they finally met again in December 2008 (this time in the UFC) ‘Rampage’ finished it with an emphatic left hook (along with a couple more bludgeoning shots to his snoozing rival’s face). Both claim to have put their personal dislike behind them but a fourth meeting remains a tantalizing possibility.
4 Chute Boxe vs Brazilian Top Team
Rumbling along for several years, the Chute Boxe vs BTT rivalry is the sport’s highest-profile ‘team feud’. Brazilian camps tend to thrive on an almost tribal, familial loyalty and defecting from one to another is almost always controversial. Their status as the sport’s leading Brazilian camps and different stylistic approaches – Chute Boxe’s Muay Thai violence and BTT’s general mastery of Brazilian jiu-jitsu – only exacerbated a rivalry that reached its apex around 2005. The two camps’ most high-profile battles took place in Japan’s Pride FC, with BTT star Ricardo Arona’s battles with Murilo ‘Ninja’ Rua and Wanderlei Silva, and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira’s classic against Chute Boxe rising-star Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua.
5 Sakuraba vs the Gracie family
The Japanese press like to dish out nicknames. Some are just plain weird but some, like Sakuraba’s ‘Gracie Hunter’ tag, are perfect. In his turn-of-the-century heyday, Sakuraba beat Royler, Royce, Renzo and Ryan. Along the way, Sakuraba became the face of Pride FC and a national hero, with his kimura armlock wins over Royler and Renzo and his 90-minute epic victory over Royce. Despite years of rumors, Rickson Gracie never faced Sakuraba to reclaim family honor, leaving the (hopefully) final chapter of the feud to Royce. Royce beat Sakuraba by decision at K-1 Dynamite USA in June 2007 in a fight where almost nothing happened. Sadly, Royce dismally failed a post-fight steroid test, his flagrant cheating destroying whatever glory he hoped to claim from beating his old rival.
