The greatest of all time… it is a subjective accolade, but survey some of MMA lovers from any era and the huge majority will offer up either Georges St Pierre or Anderson Silva as MMA’s theoretical”man to beat.” In late 2016, news of this French-Canadian’s return fueled whispers of UFC president Dana White’s”one who got away” — St Pierre vs Silva — the best versus the cleverest. Sadly, the odds of it occurring now are as slim as they ever were. “Rush” vs.”The Spider” is a fantasy; just one of many super fights we will likely never see.
Sadly, it’s not the sole one. Below are a few additional MMA superfights we never got to see…
Fedor Emelianenko vs. Brock Lesnar
Partly as a result of UFC’s monopolistic marketing power and partly because of his best years being a decade ago, Fedor Emelianenko doesn’t always receive the respect he deserves from modern-day MMA fans. For people who watched his epic rampage through PRIDE’s heavyweight division however , he was the best heavyweight of his era… perhaps the greatest ever.
While Fedor could have been the best fighter in his day, Brock Lesnar was easily the largest box office draw. An immediate superstar, he polarized an audience that didn’t know what they desired more; so watch him humbled in defeat, or glorified in success.
Physically, Lesnar was an animal. Walking around north of this 265-pound heavyweight limit, the NCAA standout moved with the speed and elegance of a man half his size. Whether it was right down to fame or notoriety he had been a magnet to the paying public, headlining what was afterward the UFC’s biggest card over the likes of GSP, in what was just his third tilt with the promotion.
Following years of deriding that the Russian while he plied his trade for the competition, White announced that signing Stary Oskol’s favourite son was his”obsession.” Accounts of what happened next differ based on who you listen to them from. Fedor was tied up with M-1; according to White, a deal offering $2,000,000 per struggle, Pay-Per-View points along with a direct title shot against Brock Lesnar was spurned; M-1 wanted to co-promote Fedor’s struggles, and allegedly wanted Zuffa to finance the construction of a stadium in Russia. M-1 refuted these claims, and talks broke down.
Fedor’s stock would drop considerably following three straight losses and Lesnar, while a licence to print money, was exposed by better fighters and abandoned the sport. It might have been the biggest-grossing MMA fight of all-time, but as is so often true, politics ultimately ruined it.
Ken Shamrock vs. Tank Abbott
Throwbacks into a different age, arguably another game, Ken Shamrock and Tank Abbott were the poster children of the UFC’s formative years. While the event was intended as a subversive info-mercial for Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, you have to feel that the money guys were quietly yanking a Shamrock victory at UFC 1. He was 220 lbs of chiselled muscle, and the only fighter in the bracket with documented”free-fight” encounter, Shamrock had the look of an action hero and the capacity to back it up.
A few years after, David”Tank” Abbott hit the scene. Watch MMA reside or in a pub even today, and you will find no lack of out-of-shape, beer-swilling loudmouths eager to share their view of how they would mop the floor with all the guys on TV. Abbott was that guy, only he could mop the floor with some of the guys on TV. Fat, cocky and wearing roughly the exact same number of teeth as he had had karate lessons, Abbott was the manifestation of everything a British artist wasn’t supposed to be.
There is a little MMA folklore that states Tank was introduced into lose, thus proving the concept that the martial artist would always triumph over the thug. His (admittedly limited) wrestling background was played down and he was branded a’Pit Fighter’ in promotional material. When Tank started breaking heads in some of the very abusive UFC fights of the era, a star was born, to the stage that the company put him on a monthly salary; something not repeated since.
There was legitimate bad blood between the two parties, with Shamrock and also his”Lion’s Den” after hunting down Abbott backstage after he’d caused trouble. Ken never caught up with him either in the parking lot or the cage, together with both eventually leaving the company for professions in pro-wrestling. Their surprise early-00’s returns once again sparked hope of a superfight from another creation, but for reasons unknown it was never meant to be.
Anderson Silva vs. Jon Jones
Before the controversy that shelved him for what could probably have been his fighting prime, few would argue that Jon Jones was not at the absolute pinnacle of mixed martial arts. A world-class athlete, not just skillful, but an expert in all aspects of the match, Jones looked insurmountable. In 2011he completed that which was arguably the greatest year’s work of any combat sports athlete, beating Ryan Bader,”Shogun” Rua,”Rampage” Jackson and Lyoto Machida in the area of just 10 months.
While Jones was painting a picture of violence in the light-heavyweight division, Anderson Silva was creating a masterpiece in middleweight. Nobody had previously cleared such a talent-rich branch and looked so untouchable in doing so. So complete was Silva’s dominance, he had twice moved up a weight class and demolished his opposition. His claim to the name of’best ever’ could be challenged by a scant couple.
White once cited his capacity to make a Jones vs. Silva superfight happen as a tool which would define his own heritage as a promoter. Fate, as it is want to do, conspired against him. Silva’s standing plummeted after having a series of losses and a failed drug test. Jones’ image was tarnished even further; while he did not falter from the cage, a run of self-inflicted’personal issues’ stripped”Bones” of his dignity, credibility and — most importantly — his own ability to compete.
Silva is beyond his prime and threatening retirement. Jones is concentrated firmly on regaining the light heavyweight title he never dropped in the cage. Problems beyond the cage have almost certainly deprived us of one of the best battles inside.
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