Top 5 Favorite Matches

[Korpy]

From UFC, PRIDE, Shooto, or any organization what are your 5 favorite matches.

1. Fedor Emelianenko vs Mirko Cro Cop - This was an epic match that featured the world's top 2 HW's fighting for the championship. We saw how weary Cro Cop was to throw kicks, and we saw Fedor outstrike the supposed greatest striker in MMA. It ended with a decision, which was a very exciting match.

2. Chuck Liddell vs Quinton "Rampage" Jackson - This is the match that officially shuts up Liddell nuthuggers/TUF noobs. Liddell who best LHW in the world got dismantled by PRIDE favorite Quinton "Rampage" Jackson. The more surprising part of it was that "Rampage" was beating him in the standup. The match ended with "Rampage" winning via TKO due to strikes.

3. Kazushi Sakuraba vs Royce Gracie - Sakuraba, otherwise known as the "Gracie Hunter" burst the Royce Gracie bubble. Sakuraba punished Royce for 90 minutes, by being the superior fighter. During the match, Saku repeatedly used Royce's own gi against him. Saku won this wehn Royce's corner threw in the towel to stop the punishment.

4. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs Josh Barnett - This was great, simply because of the rivalry between Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Catch Wrestling. Both of these fighters are top HW's, and to me it was quite the edge of your seat action at moments. Plus that rolling kneebar on Nog from Barnett was pure art. I believe Barnett won that decision fairly.

5. Hidehiko Yoshida vs Rulon Gardner - This is one of my favorites cause it was Olympian vs Olympian, Judo vs Wrestling. There was a huge weight difference, but it was very entertaining to watch Yoshida take on Gardner. Especially cause Gardner said he will never fight in MMA ever again.

[slipthejab]

One of my all time favorite bouts has to be Sakuraba V.S. Carlos Newton.
It was transitions one right after the other for the entire bout. They really showed top notch sportsmanship and unrelenting athletic ability throughout the entire bout. After this I really had a lot of respect for both their abilities. It was non-stop back and forth for the entire match. They seemed to be thinking about 12 moves ahead at all times!!! :eek:

Here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5ii_ILIEyI

http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/kazushi%20sakuraba/video/x83p1_kazushi-sakuraba-vs-carlos-newton?from=rss

[Sever]

In no particular order:

Lytle/ Lawler - first UFC match to be televised in the UK on a live PPV (back when Setanta sports were carrying it, they stopped after UFC47) so it was the first MMA fight I saw that wasn't a dodgy download or video sent from a friend in the States. It was also a bloody good fight

Gomi/ Penn - excellent fight all the way through. Gomi was very game, but Penn was on form that night and Gomi hadn't quite hit his peak. I'd be interested in seeing these two rematch

Hunt/ Nishijima - great standup fight and one of the greatest displays of heart I've seen in the ring that didn't involve Sakuraba

Gomi/ Kawajiri - a flat out great fight

Silva/ Rampage 2 - best. KO. Ever

Honourable mentions go to: Crocop/ Vovchenchyn, Shogun/ Nogueira, Sakuraba/ Royce, Sudo/ Anyone, Pulver/ Penn, Herring/ Nogueira 1, Fedor/ Herring and Randy/ Chuck 1

[Oversoul]

One of my all time favorite bouts has to be Sakuraba V.S. Carlos Newton.
It was transitions one right after the other for the entire bout. They really showed top notch sportsmanship and unrelenting athletic ability throughout the entire bout. After this I really had a lot of respect for both their abilities. It was non-stop back and forth for the entire match. They seemed to be thinking about 12 moves ahead at all times!!! :eek:

Here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5ii_ILIEyI

http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/kazushi%20sakuraba/video/x83p1_kazushi-sakuraba-vs-carlos-newton?from=rss

I hadn't known that fight was on Dailymotion. There really are some good fights to be found there. I don't think I'd seen the whole thing before. So thanks. It's certainly a great fight.

Here are two of my favorites...

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x9ujs_nogueira-vs-mauricio-shogun

and

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x82fw_bas-rutten-vs-masakatsu-funaki

[Pitfighter]

1. Liddell vs. Silva- I just wanna see an undisputed champ in MMA and I think the most exciting matchup would be in this division. I gotta give Chuck the edge if they go by UFC rules or the "real deal" pride rules. Any rules allowing knees and kicks to downed opponents would favor Silva even if elbows were allowed.

2. Fedor v. Cro-cop 2- Somebody has already given all the good reasons for this fight.

3. Fedor v. Tim Slyvia- No contest Fedor would win. The main reasons I wanna see this is 1. I'd like to sea an undisputed heavyweight champ and 2. I'd like to see Tim Sylvia get his ass handed to him by Fedor.

4. Frank Shamrock v. Tito Ortiz- I just wanna see Frank fight again and he mine as well finish up all the Shamrock blood feuds (lord knows Ken couldn't). But even though I think Frank is better at his best the truth is he fights so rarely that I fear ring rust could hurt him in this. Tito's improved, don't think he's championship material anymore but he's still a legit contender. Love to see it.

5. Carlos Newton v. Matt Hughes- I really felt Hughes was blacked out in Newton's triangle choke at the same time Newton was blackedout by Hughes' suplex. I don't necessarily think this would be a great fight but I need closure. Dammit why does every good feud get obstructed by fighters going into either Pride or UFC? A lot of MMA hardcore fans think Pride guys are the it but hey haven't most top contenders in Pride fought in UFC too? Newton's in Pride now and Hughes is in UFC. I bet Hughes would still win but I hate that guy so I hope Newton would win.

Honourable mentions: Silva vs. Tito Ortiz, Bas Rutten v. anybody (I love that guy), Tank Abbott vs. Mike Tyson (cheesy but still cool)