The greatest of all time… it is a subjective accolade, but survey any group of MMA lovers from any age and the huge majority will offer up either Georges St Pierre or Anderson Silva as MMA’s theoretical”person 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 very best versus the brightest. Regrettably, the chances of it occurring now are as slender as they were. “Hurry” vs.”The Spider” is a myth; just one of several super fights we’ll likely never see.
Sadly, it is not the sole one. Below are a few other 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 poem rampage through PRIDE’s heavyweight division though, he was the greatest heavyweight of his age… possibly the greatest ever.
While Fedor could have been the best fighter in his day, Brock Lesnar was easily the largest box office attraction. An instant celebrity, he polarized an audience who didn’t know what they desired more; so see him humbled in defeat, or glorified in victory.
Physically, Lesnar was an animal. Walking around north of this 265-pound heavyweight limit, the NCAA standout moved with the speed and grace of a guy half his size. Whether it was down to fame or notoriety he was a magnet for the paying public, headlining what was then the UFC’s largest card above the likes of GSP, in what was just his third tilt together 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 following differ based on who you listen to them from. Fedor was tied up with M-1; according to White, a bargain offering $2,000,000 per fight, Pay-Per-View points along with an immediate title shot against Brock Lesnar was spurned; M-1 wished to co-promote Fedor’s fights, and supposedly wanted Zuffa to fund the construction of a stadium in Russia. M-1 refuted these claims, and talks broke down.
Fedor’s inventory would drop considerably following three consecutive losses and Lesnar, while a licence to print money, was subjected by greater fighters and left the sport. It could have been the biggest-grossing MMA fight of all time, but as is so frequently true, politics finally ruined it.
Ken Shamrock vs. Tank Abbott
Throwbacks into another age, arguably a different sport, Ken Shamrock and Tank Abbott were the poster children of the UFC’s formative years. Even though the event was intended as a subversive info-mercial to get Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, you have to feel that the cash guys were quietly pulling for a Shamrock victory at UFC 1. He was 220 pounds of chiselled muscle, and the only fighter in the bracket using recorded”free-fight” encounter, Shamrock had the expression of an action hero and the ability to back this up.
A couple of years later, David”Tank” Abbott hit the spectacle. Watch MMA reside or at a pub even now, and you’ll find no lack of out-of-shape, beer-swilling loudmouths eager to talk about their view of how they’d mop the floor with the guys on TV. Abbott was the guy, just he can mop the floor with some of the men on TV. Fat, cocky and wearing about the exact same amount of teeth since he’d had karate course, Abbott was the manifestation of all a British artist wasn’t assumed to be.
There is a bit of MMA folklore that says Tank was introduced into shed, thus proving the theory that the British artist would always triumph over the thug. His (admittedly limited) wrestling foundation was played and he was branded a’Pit Fighter’ in promotional material. When Tank began cracking heads in a number of the very violent UFC struggles of the era, a star was born, to the stage that the company put him on a monthly wages; something not replicated since.
There was legitimate bad blood between the two parties, together with Shamrock and also his”Lion’s Den” once hunting down Abbott backstage after he’d caused difficulty. Ken never caught him up though, either in the parking lot or even the cage, with both eventually leaving the business 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 not supposed to be.
Anderson Silva vs. Jon Jones
Ahead of the controversy that shelved him for what would 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 facets of the match, Jones looked insurmountable. In 2011, he finished that which was arguably the greatest year’s work of any combat sports athlete, defeating Ryan Bader,”Shogun” Rua,”Rampage” Jackson and Lyoto Machida in the area of just 10 months.
Even though Jones was painting an image of violence at the light-heavyweight branch, Anderson Silva had been creating a masterpiece at middleweight. Nobody had cleared such a talent-rich division and seemed really untouchable in doing so. So absolute was Silva’s dominance, he had double moved up a weight class and demolished his resistance. His claim to the name of’best ever’ could be contested by a scant few.
White once mentioned his capacity to generate a Jones vs. Silva superfight occur as a tool that 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 reductions and a failed drug test. Jones’ picture was tarnished even farther; while he did not falter in the cage, a run of self-inflicted’personal difficulties’ stripped”Bones” of his dignity, credibility and — most importantly — his own ability to compete.
Silva is past his prime and threatening retirement. Jones is concentrated firmly on regaining the light heavyweight title he never lost in the cage. Problems beyond the cage have almost certainly deprived us of one of the best struggles within it.
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