Conor McGregor, Georges St-Pierre and Anderson Silva highlight some of the greatest performances in UFC championship history.
The term “rising to the occasion” can often feel like a trite one in combat sports.
However, when looking deeper into the application of that saying, I noticed that many of the examples that come to mind – arguably across all sports – are instances that involve raised stakes and championship titles.
For the UFC, this generally falls under the category of championship titles given that they haven’t been awarding tournament titles since Dan Henderson beat Carlos Newton back at UFC 17 in 1998.
So, with this being such a broad topic to cover, I thought it would be fun to narrow down my favorite championship performances that have taken place in the UFC in the form of a top 10 list.
As usual, these lists reflect my personal tastes and biases and are not meant to serve as some ultimate authority. That said, I feel very strongly about not only my list but also my honorable mentions at the end – which are more than strong enough to serve as their own top ten.
Body shots don’t get enough love because they don’t provide the visuals of a head shot, but these finishes hurt just looking at them.
It is often said that mixed martial arts is still behind the proverbial curve when it comes to striking.
Whether we’re talking about fighters lacking jabs in open-stance affairs or the way in which striking is both adjudicated and tracked in this sport, there’s still a decent amount to be desired for those who appreciate fisticuffs on the finest level.
Moreover, whether we’re talking about MMA’s top officials and judges or Gen Pop who consumes this product, there seems to be a criminal underappreciation for strikes to the body.
Despite body shots proving to be effective since the existence of organized martial arts and combat sports alike, it’s still not uncommon to see fighters allowed to take unnecessary damage en route to defeat or be awarded questionable rounds for surviving frames due to MMA’s apparent blind spot for bodywork.
This, of course, is particularly ironic considering that fighters themselves (whether they’re speaking publicly on a broadcast or are answering privately in person) revere bodywork to the point where most of them would prefer a clean headshot over a brutal body blow.
Say what you will about the striking evolution in MMA, but the fighters have been providing us with some spectacular highlights in the body shot department for some time now.
So, with that in mind, I thought it would be fun to pay homage to all forms of body strikes by revisiting my top 10 most memorable body shot stoppages in MMA.
As usual, these lists reflect my personal tastes and biases and are not meant to serve as some ultimate authority. That said, I feel very strongly about not only my list but also my honorable mentions at the end – which are more than strong enough to serve as their own top 10.
Join us for a special edition of “Spinning Back Clique” as we discuss and debate our definitive ranking of the 30 greatest UFC fighters.
Join us today for a special edition of “Spinning Back Clique” with our entire staff as we react to our definitive ranking of the 30 greatest UFC fighters of all time. The show starts at noon ET (9 a.m. PT) and will be live streamed on the MMA Junkie YouTube channel, which you can watch in the video above.
[autotag]Georges St-Pierre[/autotag] was revealed to be No. 1 on our countdown, with No. 2 [autotag]Jon Jones[/autotag], No. 3 [autotag]Demetrious Johnson[/autotag], and No. 4 [autotag]Anderson Silva[/autotag] rounding out our Mount Rushmore of UFC fighters. The conversation definitely won’t end there, though, as we have PLENTY to discuss and debate about our entire list, which you can view here.
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We also want to hear from you, the fans, about our list – whether you love it or hate it. Your comments from the chat could be part of the show.
To commemorate the UFC’s 30th anniversary, this is our definitive list of the promotion’s 30 greatest fighters of all time.
To commemorate the UFC’s 30th anniversary, MMA Junkie has compiled its definitive list of the 30 greatest UFC fighters of all time. We revealed one every day until the anniversary of UFC 1, which took place Nov. 12, 1993.
Our complete rankings, along with videos for each fighter, can be viewed below.
About the list: All 12 members of our staff submitted their own individual 30 greatest UFC fighters list. Each fighter was assigned a corresponding numerical value based on where they were ranked on an individual’s list, i.e. No. 1 = 30, No. 2 = 29, etc. We took those numbers and added them up to get a total number for each fighter to determine the composite ranking of MMA Junkie’s 30 greatest UFC fighters of all time.
Words cannot describe the magic and specialness of Anderson Silva’s prime, making him our No. 4 greatest UFC fighter of all time.
The UFC is celebrating its 30th year and to commemorate the milestone, MMA Junkie has compiled its 30 greatest UFC fighters of all time. Every day until the anniversary of UFC 1 on Nov. 12 (1993), we will reveal one fighter on our list.
Today, MMA Junkie reporter Danny Segura brings you No. 4: [autotag]Anderson Silva[/autotag].
You can watch Segura’s career retrospective on Silva above; video produced by Abbey Subhan.
About the list: All 12 members of our staff submitted their own individual 30 greatest UFC fighters list. Each fighter was assigned a corresponding numerical value based on where they were ranked on an individual’s list, i.e. No. 1 = 30, No. 2 = 29, etc. We took those numbers and added them up to get a total number for each fighter to determine the composite ranking of MMA Junkie’s 30 greatest UFC fighters of all time.
Nobody saw the endings to these UFC main events coming.
While the term “freak injury” might not be appropriate to use when discussing a sport that is inherently dangerous, 14 UFC main events have ended in unforeseen injuries – broken legs, separated shoulders, eye pokes, etc. – that don’t typically come in the sequence of MMA combat.
Scroll below to see a chronology of UFC main events that ended in that nature.
Note: Injuries sustained on a TKO due to strikes or tapout due to a submission are not included, nor are retirements on the stool due to extended fight damage or exhaustion. Laceration-based stoppages also are not included since they come as an intentional result of the opposition’s attack.
For as great as UFC champ Israel Adesanya has been, Anderson Silva’s career still resonates stronger with Michael Bisping.
For [autotag]Michael Bisping[/autotag], [autotag]Anderson Silva[/autotag] is still the greatest middleweight of all time.
With middleweight champion [autotag]Israel Adesanya[/autotag] (24-2 MMA, 13-2 UFC) looking to kickstart his second title reign against Sean Strickland (27-5 MMA, 14-5 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC 293 main event, the greatest 185-pounder conversation has reignited.
Silva holds the record for most title defenses in UFC middleweight division history at 10, and Bisping thinks it’s hard to ignore that when having the debate.
“Listen we could sit here all day and we pontificate and come out with theories and who’s the best and why and all the rest of it,” Bisping said on his YouTube channel. “Right now, Anderson Silva is ahead on all the numbers – knockouts, wins, defenses, length of time, all the rest of it.
“It all points toward Anderson Silva, and I think he’s got the better style so far. ‘The Last Stylebender’ is incredible to watch, but the way that Anderson Silva would dispose of his opponents was legendary back in the day.”
Both Bisping and Adesanya shared the cage with Silva, defeating the Hall of Famer by decision in the latter stage of his career. But Bisping doesn’t take that into account too much.
“They’re two great fighters from two different eras,” Bisping said. “They did get to fight one another and of course Israel won, but as I said before, you can’t really look at that fight too much. You can’t really give it too much weight, and I know that sounds like an insult to Israel Adesanya.
“That’s not what I’m doing. They’re both incredible. I’m fans of them both. Right now, the greatest middleweight of all time without question is Anderson Silva, but Israel Adesanya is still only 34 years old. The man is still in his prime, and he’s fighting every few months.”
UFC 293 takes place Saturday at Qudos Bank Arena. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPNews/ESPN+ and early prelims on ESPN+.
UFC Hall of Famer Anderson Silva thrilled us throughout his illustrious career, especially with these remarkable finishes.
(Editor’s note: This ranking originally published April 24, 2023.)
In the world of mixed martial arts, terms like “pound for pound” and “legend” are constantly misused when describing a fighter’s skills and achievements. But in the case of [autotag]Anderson Silva[/autotag], you can be forgiven for getting behind bold or grand descriptors.
Silva, in spite of any perceived language or marketability barriers, was able to break down sponsorship doors and connect with fans worldwide, all while simultaneously inspiring generations of martial artists to come.
Whether it was the popularization of particular techniques or his ability to challenge what you thought was possible, the former middleweight champion and UFC Hall of Famer’s contribution to MMA is undeniable.
With Silva heading into the UFC Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2023, here is a ranking of “The Spider’s” top 10 UFC finishes.
Eight years ago, Forrest Griffin jogged into the cage to face UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva, only to jog out a few minutes later.
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(NOTE: This story originally published on Aug. 8, 2017)
By the time Aug. 8, 2009, rolled around, fans already knew [autotag]Anderson Silva[/autotag] was a great fighter.
How could they not? He’d taken the UFC middleweight title from Rich Franklin some three years earlier, then won seven more fights after that, breaking the previous UFC record for most consecutive victories with a graceful destructiveness.
Still, “The Spider” was at a crossroads. He’d cleaned out his division so thoroughly that he’d begun to look bored with his own dominance. A title defense against Patrick Cote in Chicago the year before ended with a TKO due to Cote’s knee injury, but not before Silva confused fans with his refusal to attack. A decision victory over Thales Leites the following April was similarly uninspiring, and suddenly a crisis seemed to be forming.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cvr_fWWRlHy/
Why did the world’s best fighter insist on winning without fighting? What could be done to shake him out of an almost aggressive complacency?
With UFC 101, the company’s first event in Philadelphia, planned for late summer 2009, the UFC turned to a familiar solution. What if Silva once again went up in weight, as he had done against James Irvin in a counter-programming effort meant to sink the first Affliction pay-per-view a year earlier? And what if this time he faced a popular former light heavyweight champion?
Enter [autotag]Forrest Griffin[/autotag], the overachieving 205-pounder who had gone from total obscurity to reality TV show fame to a brief stint as a titleholder all in the span of a few years. Griffin had taken the UFC light heavyweight title from Quinton Jackson with a narrow decision victory in July 2008, only to turn around and lose the belt to Rashad Evans via TKO in his first title defense later that year.
Dana White believed that Silva needed a bigger challenge, so he offered Silva an opportunity to move up in weight to fight Forrest Griffin. pic.twitter.com/WrypuJqUlG
Griffin, too, was at a crossroads. His “TUF” victory had made him an instant celebrity, and his title win had validated his quick rise. His reign as champion was short even for the tumultuous light heavyweight division, but he was too big a name to go back to fighting the also-rans of the weight class while building himself back up.
Anderson Silva and Forrest Griffin
Initially, Griffin was connected to a fight with Thiago Silva, who’d recently suffered the first loss of his career at the hands of the rising Lyoto Machida. When the UFC asked him to fight a far superior Silva instead, Griffin once joked that it was the result of “a clerical error.”
It made sense for the UFC. Fans weren’t exactly howling for the chance to see another Silva staring contest with the belt on the line. The Philly fans had a reputation for being ruthless, to the extent that Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission executive director Greg Sirb publicly warned fighters at the pre-fight press conference that the crowd would reward them with boos if they brought anything other than their “A-game.”
That comment may not have been specifically aimed at Silva, but it couldn’t have been far from people’s minds.
This was the first time since coming to the UFC that Silva had been anything other than the headliner (Silva-Griffin was the night’s co-main event, leading into the lightweight title clash between champion B.J. Penn and challenger Kenny Florian). Griffin was known for being a workhorse who beat athletically superior fighters by pushing the pace and wading through the necessary punishment. He seemed big enough to test Silva’s power, and stubborn enough to come forward even when it was bad idea.
But Griffin knew why the UFC had selected him. At a book signing event two months before the fight, Griffin recounted the phone call he’d had with UFC President Dana White when the possibility was proposed to him. The offer was “not really a question” so much as a demand, according to Griffin, but he cautioned White that he wouldn’t go recklessly chasing Silva, no matter what kind of excitement the UFC might be hoping for with the pairing.
Anderson Silva and Forrest Griffin
“I said, ‘You know I’m not going to just rush in there. I saw what happened to Chris Leben when he did that. I’m going to fight a smart fight.’”
Regardless, Griffin joked, he knew the UFC wanted “a big, slow guy to follow Anderson around and make him look real good,” and he fit the bill.
“But seriously, for a hundred Gs, what are you going to do, say no?” Griffin said. “Of course I’ll fight the fight. It’s 15 minutes, man. I’ll do all right, don’t worry about it.”
Griffin entered the cage that night the same way he would leave it minutes later, jogging down the aisle as if he couldn’t wait to get started. Silva followed in a slow stroll, chin up and head cocked back, as if daring you to try to rush him.
As Bruce Buffer introduced him, the Philadelphia fans peppered Silva with boos, causing him to mock frown as he cast his eyes from one side of the crowd to the other. He seemed to want us to know that he didn’t care what we thought, and yet at the same time he looked at least a little bit surprised at the reaction. Didn’t these people used to love him?
Not that it was going to force him to fight any differently. For the first minute of the fight, Silva did what he’d always done. He circled around the cage. He feinted with his hands, with his shoulders, with his feet. He watched Griffin, like some killer robot gathering data and assessing vulnerabilities. When Griffin threw a distant two-punch combo and then finished with a head kick, Silva calmly moved his head out of the way with a complete lack of concern.
It was roughly a minute into the fight before Silva threw his first strike, catching a Griffin leg kick with his left hand and firing off a punch with his right, much like he’d done to quickly dispatch Irvin in his last trip to 205 pounds.
Griffin, for the time being, stayed calm. He tried a Superman punch. He pumped his jab. He resisted the urge to go chasing after Silva, which, as he explained in a later interview, would have played directly into the counter-striker’s hands.
However, Silva made it look easy. It was as if he saw all of Griffin's attacks coming in slow motion. Silva could not be touched that night. pic.twitter.com/cfJbHsGCQA
“What’s he’s doing there is he’s getting you to open up, to stop, to get a little frustrated, to load up, so he can counter you,” Griffin said. “He wants you to throw him that big, slow, hard punch. And that’s what he’s doing. He’s appearing to be open — he’s feinting. He’s not going out trying to lead the fight. He’s trying to get you to (lead). He’s trying to suck you in.”
Anderson Silva and Forrest Griffin
By the second minute of the fight, Griffin had begun to slowly ratchet up his aggression, but by then Silva was ready for more. For the first time in the fight he bulled his way forward with a multi-punch combination that mostly missed, but succeeded in getting Griffin to lash out with a left hook to check his progress. Silva evaded the punch, then came back with a right hook that dropped Griffin.
When Griffin got up, it was as if someone had hit the reset button on his offense, reverting him back to the kind of fighter he’d sworn he wasn’t going to be. As Silva threw more, so did Griffin. Silva gestured for him to come on, and Griffin did. Silva feinted with his hands at his waist, and Griffin unfurled a three-punch combination, hitting nothing but air. Silva came back with a left hand that sat him down again.
“I tried to punch him, and he literally moved his head out of the way and looked at me like I was stupid for doing it,” Griffin said in a radio interview a year later. “He looked at me like, ‘Why would you do such a stupid thing?’ … And then he punched me. … I felt like a kid trying to wrestle his dad.”
With Griffin on his back, Silva stood over him, peppering him with punches as the crowd howled.
“I think he really is trying to send a message here, Mike,” UFC commentator Joe Rogan said to his broadcast partner Mike Goldberg.
Silva stepped back with his hands on his hips, then offered to help Griffin up as he got to his feet. The gesture seemed vaguely mocking, but what could Griffin do? He grasped Silva’s hand, then went back to work firing punches. Strategy seemed to have gone out the window.
Griffin missed a left hook, then connected on a jab that earned him a disdainful look from Silva. Silva didn’t even bother to bring his hands up. Griffin lunged forward with a two-punch combination that Silva avoided almost with a casual shrug before responding with a short right hand in retreat. Griffin ran face-first into the punch and then collapsed onto the Bud Light logo, legs splayed out, hands waving at the air in front of him in a sort of international gesture requesting mercy.
The closing sequence was incredible. Griffin rushed in to attack Silva, but Silva calmly moved back and finished Griffin with a right hand. pic.twitter.com/vcEoKEKxaL
He got that mercy from referee Kevin Mulhall, who moved in to stop the bout at the 3:23 mark of the first round. Silva celebrated with a jog around the cage as a dazed Griffin rolled to his feet and headed for the cage door with the referee and doctor trailing him. As Griffin’s team tried to stop him from leaving the cage, Silva climbed atop it and then jumped back down.
“‘The Spider is back!” Goldberg shouted on the broadcast.
When the camera flashed back to Griffin, he was out of the cage and on the arena floor, jogging back to the dressing room the same way he’d come. He wouldn’t stop until he was out of sight.
That exit would prompt even more Internet mockery than the result of the fight itself. Within days the memes flooded in. Griffin would later refer to it as the worst night of his career, made slightly worse by the fact that he later tested positive for the anti-anxiety drug Xanax, which required him to pay a fine and undergo a 30-day suspension after the fight.
Griffin would fight again that November, defeating Tito Ortiz via decision in a close fight. Afterwards, he apologized to Silva when he encountered him backstage.
Anderson Silva
“I’m sorry I ran out on you, it was no disrespect,” Griffin said. “I just wanted it to be a great fight and I was really disappointed when it wasn’t.”
Silva appeared to accept the apology, and why not? He’d won the fight and enjoyed his moment, maybe even more so without Griffin there. The GIFs of the finish that fans passed around on message boards after the fight made Silva out to be more Jedi than fighter, exhibiting the calm of a man who knew the future, or at least the next few seconds of it.
Aug8.2009
8 years ago today,
Anderson Silva brought the matrix into the octagon, when he finished Forrest Griffin at UFC 101 pic.twitter.com/k9oJVAhmEJ
Plus, now the fans were off his back. He’d given them a show as well as a finish. These people loved him again – at least until the next one.
As for Griffin, he’d spend at least the next year answering nearly constant questions about the fight. How did it feel to lose that badly? What could he have done differently? Why did he run? He used humor to deflect the questions. He recounted telling one interviewer that he was merely in a hurry to get backstage because the interviewer’s mother was waiting for him there. He insisted that he never went back and watched the fight. He didn’t need to.
The thing he should have done instead, he would say in several subsequent interviews, was refuse to take the fight in the first place. This was Anderson Silva, after all. What was he thinking?
“Today in MMA History” is an MMA Junkie series created in association with MMA History Today, the social media outlet dedicated to reliving “a daily journey through our sport’s history.”
Check out these photos highlighting UFC stars past and present who threw out the first pitch at MLB games – and hopefully didn’t embarrass themselves.
Check out these photos highlighting UFC and Bellator stars past and present – including Jon Jones, Anderson Silva, Francis Ngannou, Stipe Miocic, Paige VanZant, and more – who threw out the first pitch at MLB games … and hopefully didn’t embarrass themselves.
Dec 31, 2019; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Virginia Tech Hokies helmet awaits before the start of the Belk Bowl between the Kentucky Wildcats and the Virginia Tech Hokies at Bank of America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 26, 2019; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Miami Hurricanes helmets sit on the sidelines against the Pittsburgh Panthers during the fourth quarter at Heinz Field. Miami won 16-12. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 26, 2019; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; A Pittsburgh Panthers helmet sits on the sidelines against the Miami Hurricanes during the second quarter at Heinz Field. Miami won 16-12. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 21, 2019; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Panthers football helmets on the sidelines against the UCF Knights during the second quarter at Heinz Field. Pittsburgh won 35-34. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 9, 2017; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; A Pittsburgh Panthers helmet sits on the sidelines against the North Carolina Tar Heels during the fourth quarter at Heinz Field. North Carolina won 34-31. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
