Greatest UFC fights that should have happened
We live in an age where fighters in all genre`s of fighting want to fight the best, the challenge that this brings to them spurs them on in the own careers and gives them a goal of which to reach. Sometimes in sport, the word super-fight is thrown out, this focuses on two stand-out fighters that attract equal amounts of attention and a fight between two greats seems destined to happen!
What often occurs is for some reason be it money, fear, politics the fight never materializes, the greatest example of this is Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao, boxing has lost its pep and if ever it needed a super-fight then this was it, but for all sorts of reasons and excuses, it was not meant to be.
MMA is no different in that regard and completely different in more ways…Fighters want to fight the best, in the UFC alone there is an epidemic of Champions calling out Champions in different weight classes, to test themselves against the best.
Jon Jones wants Cain Velasquez, Chris Weidman wants Jon Jones, Jonny Hendricks wants Chris Weidman, Anthony Pettis wants Jose Aldo and vice-versa, Mighty Mouse wants Renan Barao..Champions want to face the best, it`s a massive risk but the payday and reputation that comes with being a super-fight winner are worth it.
But for all this challenging in MMA, we suffer the same fate as boxing, certain fights that the World wanted to see never happened. Some might still come to fruition but some of long since past their sell-by date. Here are my top 5 greatest fights that never happened…..
Jose Aldo vs Anthony Pettis
With this fight all but set up in previous months, things took a turn when Gilbert Melendez was announced as an opponent for Pettis on the Ultimate Fighter season 20. This might be a surprise pick for a super-fight that never occurred but it shouldn`t be.
Aldo has never been tested in his stand-up and Pettis looks like a destroyer. I don`t like calling the fight of the year candidates but I would put my house on this fight being a constant stream of awesome!
There is still hope for this fight with the way MMA changes but for the foreseeable future, this clash of two of the best strikers in MMA is just a pipe-dream. Here`s a snippet of what we might expect if this ever occurred.
Rickson Gracie vs Kazushi Sakuraba
A fight the world needed to see but due to outside influences, it just didn’t happen. Sakuraba earned the nickname “The Gracie Hunter“, for defeating four Gracie`s in a row. The champion of the family Rickson was then called upon to quell this thorn in their side but the tragic loss of Rickson`s son pushed any taught of fighting out of his mind forevermore.
One can only imagine the legendary Gracie, who boasted an undefeated record of 11 – 0 and claims of over 400 fights in defending the family name still trail him, squaring off against “The Gracie Hunter”.
GSP vs Anderson Silva
Still, whispers of this fight in the air but the time has nearly come and gone for what would of being a pound for pound decider fight. So many possibilities rose with the announcement that Dana White was chasing this fight but Georges St Pierre’s unwillingness to go to 185 quenched all talk of this ultimate super-fight.
The rumour mill has begun again with the talk being that this somewhat cooled super-fight might rise again as Silva returns to the UFC with no interest in the title and who better to meet him than GSP. I don`t see it happening and it joins the what-if pile.
Brock Lesnar vs Fedor Emelianenko
God this would of being EPIC! Dallas Cowboy Stadium and two of the best heavyweights in the world squaring off. The fight almost happened but Fedor’s promoters M1 Global were asking for too much of the UFC and they couldn’t agree on terms. In my eyes, the fight would have been sick but Fedor would have killed him!
Lyoto Machida vs Anderson Silva
No talk of this fight ever happening but Oh My God it would be the greatest thing happen since the sliced pan! Good friends and training partners that swore never to fight each other. And a fight now that would be interesting but not leave me numb with shock and a drooling mess.
Like it would have if it happened five years ago when Machida was undefeated and unsolvable and Silva was at his dynamic best, this fight would have captured every eye of every MMA fan across the world.
I have no idea of what would happen but I’m sure it would be an explosion of epicness!
For me, I think Machida would have stopped Silva with some sort of Karate kick from hell!