Help Me Make a List of the Most Technically Competitive and Exciting Fights in MMA History

Tuf_guy said:
Nick Diaz vs Karo Parysian
after learning about Couture's dominance in wrestling, seeing his fight with Van Arsdale was entertaining.
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Oh, now that is a forgotten classic. Great wrestling matchup.
 
lena said:
Yup, it's what I remember as well. Igor just straight up murdering guys. When I first got into MMA, those KOs were so sweet to see.
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One of my favorites was... i BELIEVE it was takahashi. He murks takahashi and then gets one of those little trophies that look like oscar awards,and theres a shot of him sheepishly kissing it,looking the picture of innocense while Takahashi lies dead in the background. Japan sometimes had these crazy moments that seem more fucked up to us westerners. For instance Wanderlei murders Jackson in the 2nd fight,and Takada goes into the ring to give a solemn speech declaring Wanderlei master of all the universe,and the favored son of the just bleed god with great ceremony,and Quinton Jackson is still laid out on the ring. Such thing would never happen in the US. Theyd wait till the guy was up and moving before theyd do that.
 
Lawler V Condit
Dos Anjos V Ferguson
Henderson V Pettis 1
McGregor V Diaz 1 and 2
 
MMA striking fights i liked.

Chuck liddell vs jeremy horn

Bj penn vs Diego, kenflo, and sherk

Nick diaz run in strikeforce and vs penn

Cung le vs frank shamrock
 
HHJ said:
One of my favorites was... i BELIEVE it was takahashi. He murks takahashi and then gets one of those little trophies that look like oscar awards,and theres a shot of him sheepishly kissing it,looking the picture of innocense while Takahashi lies dead in the background. Japan sometimes had these crazy moments that seem more fucked up to us westerners. For instance Wanderlei murders Jackson in the 2nd fight,and Takada goes into the ring to give a solemn speech declaring Wanderlei master of all the universe,and the favored son of the just bleed god with great ceremony,and Quinton Jackson is still laid out on the ring. Such thing would never happen in the US. Theyd wait till the guy was up and moving before theyd do that.
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They probably thought the losers were only too happy to show the world how they had died with honor. :)
 
lena said:
They probably thought the losers were only too happy to show the world how they had died with honor. :)
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Its a different take,which was one of the interesting things about watching Pride.
 
The one thing i favored about japanese fans was they never tried to act smarter than the fighters. They respected everyone who had the balls to get in there win or lose and never booed anyone unless they broke the rules. Even when fights were boring they would never think to boo.
 
HHJ said:
Its a different take,which was one of the interesting things about watching Pride.
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In contrast to brazil:

Renzo Gracie: when i used to fight i brazil we never would do a face off before the fight,cos we would just fight right there. you could never be near the opponent until the fight start.
 
Korean Zombie vs Dustin Porier
Jones vs Gustafsson
Also vs Mendes 2
Machida vs Davis
Edgar vs Bendo
Bendo vs Pettis 1
Larkin vs Tumanov
Dalby vs Darren Till
 
I wouldnt call machida davis exciting,but good call on Larkin vs Einstein.
 
lena said:
hi-res-92326274_crop_exact.jpg

Machida-Shogun I

Trying to get my friend, a young and dedicated traditional martial artist, into MMA. I would like to show her fights with the following characteristics:

a. High Level - both fighters must be high-level and at the top of their game.
b. Exciting - lots of action and scoring, good pace and energy from both fighters throughout
c. Competitive - no blowouts, both fighters able to fully display their martial arts skills.

I guess you say I'm trying to show her the kinds of fights a hero would have against the "Final Boss" in a movie. Off the top of my head, I can think of the following fights:

1. Machida-Shogun I: a striker's wet dream. Also an interesting contrast in styles between Karate and Muay Thai.

2. Sakuraba - Newton: maybe the grappler's equivalent of Machida-Shogun. Two of the greatest MMA grapplers of their time. Also notable for the display of respect between these fighters. Felt like you were watching two grandmasters having a duel in Tokugawa Japan.

3. Demian Maia - Jason MacDonald: while Jason was ultimately outclassed, still an incredibly exciting affair with great sweeps and reversals.

4. Dominic Cruz - Garbrant: a great new fight. Garbrandt's boxing versus Cruz' unorthodox movement.

5. Nogueira - Couture - dirty boxing, greco roman and jujitsu, on the feet, in the clinch and on the ground. A fantastic and skilled duel between two legends.

A lot of historic fights will not meet these standards, which are aimed at impressing newbies who are looking for technical acumen.

For example: Fedor-Crocop was high level and competitive. However, after the first round, it was not especially exciting as Crocop just got worn down by Fedor's pressure.

Fedor-Nog 1: high level and exciting, but not competitive. Fedor just brutally destroyed Nog.

New fights are also welcome, as well as those from other promotions like Bellator.

Please help me add to my list!
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Condit vs Hendricks is a much better fight than Nog vs Couture, which was just two old shot guys flinging haymakers.

Also Diaz vs Daley should be included just for sheer excitement value.
 
Kelman said:
Nog vs Couture, which was just two old shot guys flinging haymakers.
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Strongly disagree. Striking at range was not the greatest, but this is understandable given their respective martial arts. On the other hand, the clinch fighting and ground work were masterclasses.

Further, I think Couture could have won that fight had he kept it in the standing clinch and used dirty boxing. He kept going for the take down and that brought him into Nog's world.
 
Cro Cop vs Nogueira in Pride - Nogueira gets battered and then uses his BJJ to submit at the end of the fight, classic striker vs grappler
 
FlamingSamurai said:
Cro Cop vs Nogueira in Pride - Nogueira gets battered and then uses his BJJ to submit at the end of the fight, classic striker vs grappler
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Yes but it was domination by mirko until the end. Competitive fights were a criteria
 
lena said:
Strongly disagree. Striking at range was not the greatest, but this is understandable given their respective martial arts. On the other hand, the clinch fighting and ground work were masterclasses.

Further, I think Couture could have won that fight had he kept it in the standing clinch and used dirty boxing. He kept going for the take down and that brought him into Nog's world.
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I enjoyed this fight ,but it made me think 2 things

1) Nogueira was too much for randy,and in their prime his skillset would have won the day too.
2) Nogueira's submission skills were starting to erode. It was the rare times where he was struggling hard to finish someone he had dead to rights.
 
sak v newton and randy v nog were two i came to post.

two other great grappling displays were nog v henderson 2 and fitch v maia. not exactly back and forth , but exciting and technical .

i remember Frank v tito being technical, but i haven't seen it in a decade
 
Reasonably recently, Jones vs Gustafson, Condit vs Lawler, Aldo vs Mendes 2, Lawler vs MacDonald 2, Cruz vs Dillashaw / Garbrandt, McGregor vs Diaz 2 and Weismann vs Machida.
 
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