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Posted on June 28, 2008 by oleg
We’ve compiled a list of the 10 biggest MMA upsets in recent history. The significance of upsets on this list is measured not by the betting odds, but by the difference in the Fightmatrix.com point standing between the two fighters, normalized for weight class differences.
- Gabriel Gonzaga W Mirko Filipovic (UFC 70, Apr 21 2007) @ -186.18
- Matt Serra W Georges St. Pierre (UFC 69, Apr 7 2007) @ -155.02
- Quinton Jackson W Chuck Liddell (UFC 71, May 26 2007) @ -142.45
- Mark Hunt W Wanderlei Silva (Pride Shockwave 2004, Dec 31 2004) @ -140.3
- Keith Jardine W Chuck Liddell (UFC 76, Sep 22 2007 ) @ -127.90
- Mark Coleman W Mauricio Rua (Pride 31, Feb 26 2006) @ -126.49
- Cheick Kongo W Mirko Filipovic (UFC 75, Sep 8 2007) @ -114.57
- Forrest Griffin W Mauricio Rua (UFC 76, Sep 22 2007) @ -108.48
- Eduardo Dantas W Shinichi Kojima (Shooto, Nov 8 2007) @ -103.79
- Sokoudjou W Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (Pride 33, Feb 24 2007) @ -98.48
Interesting to note that with exception of 2 fights, this list is all comprised of heavy and light-heavyweights. Also, Mirko Filipovic, Chuck Liddell, and Mauricio Rua were all victims of huge upsets on more than one occasion.
Posted in MMA Statistics | Comments (8)
July 7th, 2008 at 11:36 am
Come on man. You dont agree with me fine. But I am offended your saying its Sherdog stuff. That’s lame. I am my own person. I hate this anytime someone does not like what someone says the pull out this Sherdog card. I have no problem with you not agreeing with me, but I think for myself.
Regarding Rua. The man fought with a torn acl and almost won. Forrest winning that fight is not an upset. He fought almost a 1 legged guy, yeah getting married and having your first fight ever in a cage is a hell of an adjustment. Torn acl, thats an injury that keeps basketball players out the whole year.
Are you kidding regarding GSP. Having two people close to you either die or be sick is a hell of burden. I still call that the greatest upset I have seen, but I think GSP’s personal issues are better he knocks out Serra.
Soko Big Nog to me not an upset. If Soko would have lost to Arona yeah but he showed hes a top 10 lhw. Its more we just did not know how great he is.
July 5th, 2008 at 8:39 am
Uhhh.. I can’t believe some of the reasoning in that short essay
LOL Sounds like something off of the Sherdog forums.
Big deal Rua got married. Hindsight is 20/20. Did anyone actually not bet on him because of this before the fight?
As for Coleman/Rua, fluke = upset. Coleman won, he wasn’t supposed to.. it was an upset. Soko/Big Nog… Soko did nothing to make anyone think he’d beat Nog. Hunt was a beginner in terms of MMA, the system doesn’t see his prior experience. I could go on..
The only one I partially agree w/ you on is Chuck/Quentin 2. It was still an upset though.
July 4th, 2008 at 10:23 pm
Hunt only had 2 MMA-rules fights before Silva.
July 4th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
If you look at those fights closely, even on a list of suppossed upsets, most of those are’nt upsets. What I get from it, it shows to me how close to each other athletes in mma are. The only fights on that I really consider an upset, are Cro Cop Gonzaga and GSP Serra. Even in those two, there are circumstances. Cro Cop was an upset on name recognition not actually fighting ability. He was a roided out Pride guy, who has highlight reel knockouts and really is an amazingly flawed fighter. He came in with a repuatation as the most fearsome striker and guy expected to be fighting for the UFC heavyweight belt. Well its easy to see when you attack Cro Cop he is a completely different fighter. Gonzaga showed to people he is the better overall fighter. That was no fluke, that was a obvious ass kicking. Take The GSP Serra fight. To me the greatest upset in MMA history so far. GSP’s cousin had died very recently leading up to the fight, and his dad was in the hospital very bad condition during the fight. You could see the difference in him walking into the ring. That more than anything had the most impact on that fight. And yes, it probably was good for his career.
Soko Big Nog was more people not knowing Soko. The other two have I not heard about. Forrest and Shogun, that was Shoguns first fight in a cage, he had moved to the usa, had in the weeks leading up to the fight gotten married, so you know his focus was not on the fight. And despite all that it was an even fight leading up to the choke, and heres the main thing. He had a torn acl during the fight. You take all those into consideration, no way that’s an upset. Congo Cro Cop, again, I had actually picked Congo going in that fight, I expected him to win and he did. Not an upset. Rua Coleman was a fluke, that exactly what a fluke is. A weird injury was the reason that fight got stopped. Jardine Liddell, very close fight, neither guy really engaged. Jardine does have some victories in his career, and with the way the fight was, more than anything it was boring fight. Hunt Silva, are you playing, Hunt is a top echelon heavyweight, Wandy should have been the underdog in that fight, Wandy makes his career knocking people out, that his style, who the fuck knocks out Hunt. You could hit him with a baseball bat, he perhaps will shrugg it off. Rampage Liddell, nah, Rampage already beat him.
June 28th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
This list is based off of points only… so it really doesn’t take previous match-ups between the same fighters into account.
June 28th, 2008 at 5:09 pm
Was Rampage beating the Iceman really that big of a upset I thought he was going to win the whole time. In some cases fighter just match up better with I think that is the case in that fight. However the Jardine fight was a upset. But that dude is tough as long as he dosn’t get caught in the first 45 seconds.