1. Tatsuya Kawajiri, Dream 5: Lightweight Grand Prix 2008 (Final Round)

I fought him in Japan, his home country. The crowd was against me. The refs were against me. I got cut really bad early in the fight. All in all, he was just a better fighter. I looked up to him. We ended up getting in a seven minute war.

The rounds were ten minutes long. Usually by the six or seven minute mark you hit a wall. That’s when I was able to step on the gas, say ‘fuck it’ and I was able to pull out the KO. I remember smiling at my corner and just being exhilarated with how much fun it was.

2. Michael Chandler, Bellator 58 and Bellator 106

Coming off the stool that many times and being in the fourth and fifth rounds with another for that long a period of time, there is a time in the championship rounds where it’s no longer about the opponent but you are having negotiations with yourself about your own exhaustion and your own fatigue.

You fight through and win those negotiations with yourself. It’s unforgettable, absolutely unforgettable. For as long as you live, you will remember how you felt in that moment. Those fights are two that I will always go back to.

3. Joachim Hansen, Dream 3: Lightweight Grand Prix 2008 (Second Round)

That was also in Japan in the Dream tournament. I knocked him out. Just like Kawajiri, I watched him fight in the Grand Prix as a kid. I looked up to him. Then I began fighting my heroes.

A few seconds into the first round I knocked him out, he went limp and he popped back up like a puppet. We proceeded to get into a fifteen-minute war and it was the first standing ovation in Japanese history for two foreign fighters.

4. Gilbert Melendez, UFC 188

He broke my orbital and my nose in the first round. I went to blow my nose, like an idiot, and I went completely blind in my eye. I fought two rounds not knowing where my opponent was. I was just swinging at the air.

Just trying to deal with that, I remember needing my corner to keep me in the fight mentally. I just felt like there was no way that I would be able to see or be able to get my hands on my opponent properly to be able to pull out a victory. I managed to pull through with the help of my corner and everyone involved.

5. Justin Gaethje, UFC 218

I don’t need to explain it. Just watch it. I was totally fine in the fight with the way it was playing out, only because I watched all of Gaethje’s fights. I studied him. I rehearsed to be in terrible situations for five, five-minute rounds. I rehearsed it in my mind. I rehearsed it in practice. I basically built myself in training camp to become unbreakable. I knew I was going to be pushed to a point, to be broken.

I knew the type of fighter he is and the pressure that he puts forward. Going in, I felt like this is just a normal day. This is what we prepared for and now we are in it. The point in that fight where we clinch and we are both completely exhausted. As I am punching him I am saying, ‘Eat that. Eat that.’ He's bleeding all over my hands. He says ‘I love it.’ And I said ‘I love it, too!’

This is just a ten-second point in the fight. I was thinking to myself that this has to be the greatest sport on earth. What a great opponent and what a great partner to put on that show with. The crowd won and neither one of us lost that night. I have too many other fights to list!

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