31 October 2004

Saitama, Japan

PRIDE 28: High Octane

By Ray Klerck

With Alex Pereira and Sergei Pavlovich prepping for their showdown, fans are hoping for the kind of throw-down that makes you forget to blink. To remember what that looks like, think of a battle between two terrifying punchers who genuinely disliked each other: Wanderlei Silva and Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson. Their first meeting had ended with Jackson being introduced to a succession of knees that left his face looking like a dropped lasagna. Eleven months later, Rampage was back for revenge. Silva, meanwhile, was enjoying life as the king of the 205-pound division, where his spectacular brand of Muay Thai. What followed was some of the most exciting 13 minutes and 26 seconds in MMA history. 

BAD BLOOD IN SAITAMA

Their first encounter at the 2003 PRIDE Middleweight Grand Prix final had ended badly for Jackson. The tournament expected fighters to fight twice in one evening, and after beating Chuck Liddell, Rampage faced a relatively fresh Silva, who eventually overwhelmed him with a barrage of knees. Jackson blamed a controversial referee stand-up for changing the fight, while Silva believed he'd simply beaten the better man. Neither was particularly interested in hearing the other's opinion. Rampage spent the following year rebuilding his rep, most spectacularly by lifting Ricardo Arona into the air and slamming him unconscious while trapped in a triangle choke. It was a knockout that looked like something from pro wrestling. By the time ref Yuji Shimada brought them together, the psychological warfare was over. Both men had prepared for revenge. Only one would get it.

ROUND 1: RAMPAGE GETS HIS REVENGE

As the bell rang, Jackson pressed forward, trading heavy punches and knees with the champ, refusing to give up ground whenever Silva advanced. Wanderlei responded with his assortment of looping hooks and knees, but Rampage was stronger in the clinch than many expected. The American tied him up, reversed positions, and eventually dragged the fight to the canvas, where he began unloading punches from top position. Silva remained dangerous from his back, searching for submissions and opportunities to escape, but Jackson was controlling the action. Late in the round, Rampage unloaded a straight right hand that sent Silva crashing to the canvas. The champion was hurt, and Jackson swarmed in with punches and a knee, desperately trying to finish the job. Somehow, Wanderlei survived. The bell sounded with Rampage firmly in control and the champion looking surprisingly mortal. For ten minutes, Jackson had done almost everything right. Unfortunately, he still had another round to survive.

ROUND 2: SIX KNEES TO OBLIVION

If Jackson thought the hardest work was behind him, Silva was about to offer a rather painful correction. The Brazilian emerged for the second round with renewed aggression, stalking forward and throwing heavy punches while Rampage tried to maintain the pressure that had worked so well earlier. After plenty of exchanges and some ground wrestling, Silva eventually stood up and tried to head-stomp Jackson’s face, and the pair took to standing up after almost 20 minutes of fighting. Jackson kept coming forward, but the furious opening round had clearly taken something out of him. Silva's punches started to find their target, and suddenly a crushing right hook sent Rampage stumbling backward toward the ropes. The champ saw opportunity and secured his well-tested clinch, then drove knees toward Jackson's head. Rampage desperately tried to defend himself, raising his arms and struggling to escape the Brazilian's grip. Several knees crashed into his guard, but Silva refused to let go. One knee followed another. Jackson's resistance weakened. Then the sixth knee broke through. Rampage's body went limp, his legs gave way, and his upper body folded forward through the ropes. His head hung outside the ring, blood streaming from his face as referee Yuji Shimada stopped the contest at 3:26 of the second round. It was the sort of knockout that made the replay look considerably worse than the original.

THE KNOCKOUT THAT NEVER DIED

MMA has produced thousands of knockouts, but few have left behind an image quite like Jackson's unconscious body hanging through the ropes at Saitama Super Arena. Silva had defended his championship and beaten his fiercest rival for the second time, despite surviving an opening round that would have broken lesser fighters. Jackson eventually got his revenge four years later at UFC 92, knocking Silva unconscious with a first-round left hook. Then he did it again at Bellator 206 in 2018, squaring the rivalry at 2-2. Despite the leveling of the scales, nothing can erase what happened in Japan. The image of Rampage folded through the ropes became one of PRIDE's most enduring photographs, a reminder of an era when the sport seemed perfectly comfortable allowing two men to settle their differences with medieval vigor. Silva was the undisputed king of Japan, Jackson learned another painful lesson, and the rest of us got one of the most spectacular finishes in MMA history. Watch it here.