The 10 Most Jaw-Dropping Moments in MMA History Jun 22, 2012

Moments that leave fans speechless are the lifeblood of any sport. 

Often what sends fans into hysterics is seeing their favourite fighter pull off a particularly amazing feat of skill, take Anderson Silva’s effortlessly dodging of Forrest Griffin’s punches for reference.  Other times amazement emanates from individuals seemingly defying the odds; when underdogs win and shock the world.  Moments like these are what make us call our friends and share the madness of what we’ve just witnessed, making them a staple of all sport and really the main way people discover and engage with new sports in general. 

These are by no means the only jaw dropping moments in mixed martial arts, and they aren’t in any particular order.  These are just some of the better ones:

1.  Cheick Kongo vs. Pat Barry UFC Live: Kongo vs. Barry, 2011)

Cheick Kongo’s divine intervention

Cheick Kongo vs. Pat Barry was always going to entertain.  Both fighters packed serious power and a passionate dislike for all other aspects of the fight game so a stand up slugfest was all but confirmed.  Yes, the fight ended in an amazing knockout but the route to said knockout dropped more jaws than just about anything else in MMA that year. 

Though this knockout will never have the relevance of say, Anderson Silva’s front kick, the sheer audacity of what transpired in those two minutes and 39 seconds has to be seen to be believed.  The heavens seemed to part for the almighty himself to spring a barely conscious Kongo back to life, the Frenchman stumbling backwards as Barry sensed blood and moved in for the kill after dropping his opponent down not once but twice.  Kongo planted his feet and threw a hook that hurt Barry and followed up with a sharp uppercut to knock his opponent unconscious.  In less than one minute Cheick Kongo had gone from seemingly certain defeat to victory.  Barry lay on the floor defeated and Kongo stood tall, his expression painting a picture equal parts triumphant and bewildered at what he had just managed to pull off. 

2.  Anderson “The Spider” Silva vs. Chael Sonnen (UFC 117, 2010)

Talk the talk, walk the walk

UFC 117’s main event was pretty much jaw-dropping throughout mostly due to the sheer ease with which Chael Sonnen seemed to be handling Anderson Silva.  Few would deny Sonnen the wrestling edge going into the fight but what baffled fans was his ability to repeated land strikes on the champion on the feet, an aspect of the fight game Silva had seemingly turned into an art form.  Sonnen rocked the champion in the first few moments of the fight and really set the tone for the rest, his perseverance always managing to secure him the takedown while weathering the champion’s wrath. 

By the fifth round it was Sonnen’s fight.  Silva had been ground into the canvas for over 20 minutes and hit more times than in his entire career combined.  Anderson slipped, falling down as Sonnen again gained mount position and seemed to have finally conquered the champion by re-establishing his dominance except this time he didn’t even need to apply his wrestling; Silva was simply too tired to keep his footing.  It seemed to be the same story as in the previous four rounds until Silva sprang into life, locking on a triangle armbar when Sonnen made the fatal mistake of allowing Anderson to control his wrist for just a few seconds too long.  With just one tap the fighters were torn apart and Anderson had prevailed over the beating of his lifetime. 

UFC 117’s main event was nothing short of a rollercoaster.  The shock of watching Sonnen seemingly shrug off the aura Silva had spent years building to not only drop him with punches but take him down several times was beaten only by the amazement of watching the champion overcome everything leading up to that point to execute a perfect triangle armbar and retain the belt. 

Chael Sonnen was undoubtedly the biggest challenge of Anderson Silva’s career so perhaps it is appropriate to call his UFC 117 victory his greatest triumph.  Either way it was nothing short of astonishing. 

3.  Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic vs. Gabriel “Napao” Gonzaga (UFC 70, 2007)

Cro Cop finally tastes his own medicine

Mirko Filipovic’s UFC debut in 2007 was one of the most promising implications of the UFC’s acquisition of the Pride Fighting Championship.  The heavyweight division’s premier striker, Cro Cop was known primarily for a left roundhouse kick that he famously used to decimate everyone from Igor Vovchanchyn to Wanderlei Silva.  Fights that did not go Cro Cop’s way usually took place on the ground, out of his comfort zone where jiu jitsu whizzes like Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira were able to lock tight armbars and bruisers like Fedor Emelianenko could trounce the Croatian with ground and pound.  This was Gabriel Gonzaga’s speciality.  A Brazilian jiu jitsu black belt and seasoned Mundials competitor, one could logically assume Gonzaga would take Flipovic down and look to submit him in a manner similar to fellow Brazilian Nogueira. 

In hindsight, it wasn’t really much of a surprise that the fight between Mirko “Cro Cop” Flipovic and Gabriel “Napao” Gonzaga ended via head kick.  What blows minds still to this day was who actually ended up on the receiving end.  With only nine seconds left in a tentative first round, Gonzaga threw every fibre of his being into a booming right head kick that savagely crumpled Flipovic, the force of the blow seemingly breaking his opponent’s foot as he fell towards the floor.  Despite competing in kickboxing and MMA no one had hit Cro Cop in such a way and no one has been able to since. 

A relatively unknown jiu jitsu fighter had smashed the heavyweight division’s top striker with a head kick.  The MMA world had never seen anything like it. 

4.  Frank Mir vs. Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira (UFC 140, 2011)

Frank Mir turns the tables

UFC 140’s co-main event played out like a typical Nogueira performance.  Known for his fantastic Brazilian jiu jitsu ability and brilliant chin, Minotauro forged his craft by allowing fighters to feel confident from mount position and secure submission holds all while enduring a godly beating in the process.  Look no further than his bout with Pride FC behemoth Bob Sapp, a 300lb colossus who ragdolled Nogueira for nearly ten minutes before succumbing to an armbar defeat.  Coming back from what appeared to be sure defeat was Nogueira’s speciality. 

Frank Mir put on a classic Nogueira performance at UFC 140.  The hotly awaited rematch of their UFC 92 clash (which Nogueira lost by knockout, the first of his career), Nogueira had much to prove after putting most of the fault for his performance in the first fight to a staph infection he had chosen to fight through.  In their rematch it seemed that Nogueira was right, his sharp one-two combination sending Frank Mir reeling and then pouncing for a guillotine choke as Mir lay face first on the octagon floor in the first round.  A simple footing mistake gave Mir the out he needed, rolling Nogueira multiple times and in the process reversing the guillotine choke with a Kimura lock.  The fighters stopped with Mir in perfect position where he began to apply pressure to the joint, his opponent still struggling to break free.  Time seemed to slow leading to the visceral breaking of Nogueira’s humerus bone after which referee Herb Dean separated the fighters and tended to a shocked Nogueira who simply lay staring at his misshapen arm.  Frank Mir had become the first man in MMA history to both submit and knockout Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. 

Easily one of the most disturbing submission victories in recent memory, the gut punch of watching Nogueira’s arm break coupled with just how close he was to winning the fight left us with our mouths agape and Nogueira staring into space, apparently baffled at what had just transpired. 

Ironically, this was probably exactly how most his opponents felt after he had defeated them. 

5.  Anthony “Showtime” Pettis vs. Benson “Smooth” Henderson (WEC 53, 2010)

WEC’s ninja takes flight

Though technically no longer in existence, the World Extreme Cagefighting organisation was an interesting counterpart to the UFC during its time, mainly due to a focus on lighter weight classes and fast-paced technical bouts swapping big knockouts for furious firefights.  What better way to send it off then, than a five round war between Benson Henderson and Anthony Pettis at WEC 53, the promotion’s final event before its merger with the UFC. 

You couldn’t get a better signoff.  With just over a minute left in the final bout on the final card, Anthony Pettis ran up (yes, up) the cage to boot Benson Henderson square on the jaw and send him reeling across the cage.  This isn’t what you’re supposed to do, yet it worked.  Cageside commentator Stephan Bonnar described it best when, seemingly in between tears of happiness, he blurted out the following:

“He ran off the wall like a NINJA!” 

He couldn’t be more right.  Anthony Pettis showed us why “Showtime” isn’t just a nickname and pretty much cemented his place into YouTube montage videos for eternity, giving the WEC promotion a worthy send off and tantalising fans as to the possibilities of such talents in the UFC. 

6. “ Suga” Rashad Evans vs. Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell (UFC 88, 2008)

The Iceman Go-eth Down

Chuck Liddell used to be the UFC’s poster boy.  To be fair, he still sort of is.  Boasting his trademark mohawk hairstyle (complete with kanji scalp tattoo) and light blue shorts, The Iceman was known for his serious knockout power and brilliant takedown defence reminiscent of current UFC heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos.  Like JDS, much of Chuck’s success came from pushing wrestlers out of their comfort zone, forcing a stand-up exchange when the takedown was unreachable and using punches in bunches to put people on the floor.  It worked too, his style providing too much for accomplished wrestlers like Randy Couture and Tito Ortiz and giving him a lengthy run as UFC light heavyweight champion. 

Unfortunately since losing his title to Quinton Jackson at UFC 76 Liddell had, as all aging athletes do, begun to wane.  By comparison Rashad Evans was a hungry young fighter, the victor of The Ultimate Fighter Season 2 and a speedy wrestler who was coming off a very close decision victory over Michael Bisping and was looking for a way to put himself at the top and in line for a shot at the title. 

That’s exactly what he got when he flattened Liddell with an overhand right in the second round of their bout at UFC 88.  It was a tragic loss for Liddell, his age appearing to finally have caught up with him as Evans was simply the much faster man.  Seeing a legend on his way out is never a good sight but the brutal nature of Liddell’s loss was what shocked us the most.  Completely unconscious, he flopped to the floor as Evans scrambled to ensure his victory in what must have seemed like a formality in retrospect.  Liddell was almost laid to rest, his decline confirmed and Evans demonised because of it. 

7.  Matt “The Terror” Serra vs. Georges “Rush” St. Pierre (UFC 69, 2007)

“The Terror” captures UFC gold

On paper, there was no way Matt Serra could beat Georges St. Pierre.  Serra was older, smaller, slower and certainly the less athletic man.  Georges St. Pierre by contrast was beginning to evolve into the champion we know today, riding a six fight winning streak including enacting revenge on Matt Hughes who at that point had handed him the only loss of his career.  Serra actually only managed to fight for the title after edging a very narrow split decision to Chris Lytle in what was billed as a comeback season of The Ultimate Fighter, making this a title fight most fans simply chalked to the UFC throwing GSP a fight they knew he could win. 

It only took one round for the then 33-year-old to take the belt.  Landing pinpoint strikes behind the champion’s ear, Serra swarmed a tumbling GSP and finished via ground and pound to become the new UFC welterweight champion.  One fight after his victory on the “comeback” season of TUF, Serra had become the number one welterweight in the world. 

St. Pierre would go on to avenge this loss in brutal fashion, but the first Serra fight was a jaw dropping spectacle at the time and certainly the closest we’ve come in MMA to a real “Rocky” story.  Critics will argue it’s since become little but a blip in the legacy of the current welterweight champion but Georges St. Pierre’s knockout loss to Matt Serra was both the worst defeat of his career and the most jaw dropping moment in the history of the UFC welterweight division. 

8.  Jon Jones vs. Shogun Rua (UFC 128, 2011)

The New Breed Arrives

Enter Jon Jones. 

Casting not only a fearsome shadow but also possessing the longest reach in UFC history Jon Jones’s lanky frame and penchant for the extravagant, be it flashy spinning elbows or elaborate Greco-roman throws, made him a truly unique addition to the UFC’s light heavyweight roster.  Always entertaining, “Bones” stood in to fill for injured then teammate Rashad Evans and be the first to take a stab at Rua’s UFC gold after an impressive victory over Ryan Bader who was another top prospect at the time. 

Mauricio “Shogun” Rua himself was no slouch however, the belt being bestowed upon him after an amazing knockout of then undefeated Lyoto Machida in the rematch to a first fight many felt Rua had been denied a rightful victory from.  In adding the UFC belt to a resume that also contained the Pride 2005 GP title, Shogun was a worthy champion, a muay thai striker capable of knocking out almost anyone. 

UFC 128’s main event was jaw-dropping from the off.  Without even so much as a touch of gloves the fighters squared up, Jones throwing a massive flying knee landing squarely on Rua’s chin and instantly dictating the rest of the fight.  Rua was thoroughly dominated on the feet and on the ground, his strikes being shrugged off by the lankier challenger and Jones masterfully targeting Rua’s abdomen with ground strikes to tire the champion and better impose his will.  This went on until the third round where a sharp left to the body followed by a crunching knee dropped Shogun, the referee ending the bout as Rua himself tapped gently on the canvas.  Jones was both victorious and the youngest champion in UFC history at 23 years old. 

Never had Rua been so dominated, nor had there ever been a changing of the title where the challenger had made it look so easy.  Jon Jones has not only kept the belt since but has defeated three former champions in doing so, standing as the exemplary “new breed” mixed martial artist. 

9.  Cain Velasquez vs. Brock Lesnar (UFC 121, 2010)



More than able

There was a period when the MMA world was almost mesmerised by Brock Lesnar.  Exploding into the UFC with a destruction of Pride heavyweight Heath Herring, Brock Lesnar brought with him not only a new level of athleticism but a rush of new fans mostly thanks to his time in WWE.  Brock’s combination of size and speed seemed to make him invincible, the ludicrous agility of such a big man perplexing his opponents before they were crushed into nothingness. 

It is for this very reason that his TKO loss to Cain Velasquez was one of the more jaw-dropping moments in recent memory.  Cain Velasquez came into the fight the much smaller athlete, the majority of his wins coming via smothering opponents on the ground using strikes which was practically Lesnar’s bread and butter.  Many UFC fans thought that Velasquez would be outmatched by the far larger Lesnar and that it would be relatively easy for the champion to take the fight to the ground and smash the challenger senseless. 

Practically the opposite happened.  Right off the bat both fighters stood their ground, landing strikes before Brock shot for a signature takedown and brought the fight to the ground.  Seconds later however, Cain Velasquez was back up.  Utilising perfect wrestling technique Velasquez not only sprang to his feet but used the momentum to take down Lesnar and became the first man to do so.  The back and forth continued until Cain Velasquez landed a knee so powerful it literally sent Lesnar flying across the Octagon.  Fans stood stunned as all 280lbs of UFC heavyweight champion stumbled across the floor, trying to stand only to find his legs weren’t there and spinning into the cage.  Cain stalked the ailing Lesnar, landing blow after blow as Brock cowered only for the referee to stop the fight in the first round.  Brock Lesnar was soundly defeated, his size and strength losing out to Velasquez’s splendid technique. 

10.  Kevin “The Monster” Randleman vs. Fedor “The Last Emperor” Emelianenko (Pride Critical Countdown 2004)

The “Randleplex”

During the peak of his dominance, Fedor Emelianenko was known and feared for one thing above all else.  It wasn’t his monstrous knockout power, nor was it his terrific Sambo or stellar submission locks.  Fedor’s greatest asset was his ability to use his well-rounded skill set to adapt, to overcome odds and find victory however shrouded it may have seemed.  Apparently, this extended to being dropped on your head from great heights by NCAA division 1 wrestlers.  Kevin Randleman literally drove Emelianenko’s skull into the canvas when the two met at Pride Critical Countdown 2004, with no jaw-dropping further than Randleman’s own when the Russian instantly locked on a tight Kimura hold afterwards, forcing him to submit and Fedor to walk away the victor. 

There isn’t really much to this entry, it speaks for itself.  Fedor not only survived a slam that looked fatal but used perfectly executed jiu jitsu technique to win the fight, his face carrying the same legendary placidity except this time it was almost as if he hadn’t realised Randleman had practically hit him with the earth. 

When you look at Fedor’s accomplishments however, it’s far more likely that he simply didn’t care. 

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Jaw-dropping moments are ultimately what make sporting events memorable.  In the comparative infancy of mixed martial arts we’re both lucky and privileged to have received several, be they by knockout or submission.  The variety of ways in which MMA can astound is part of what makes it such a unique and promising sport. 

There’s really been no better time to be a fan of mixed martial arts. 

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