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At UFC 139 last weekend grizzled veteran Dan Henderson got the better of Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua, winning an unanimous decision over 5 brutal rounds. Following a frenetic first round that saw both men on the canvas, Henderson took control of the contest battering his opponent with his powerful right hand. The third round was exceptionally decisive for the American Henderson, who nearly claimed a stoppage victory after dropping Rua for the second time, but was unable to land those vital blows to his finish his downed opponent and the fight was allowed to continue by the referee. However, despite being severely beaten and bloodied, it was the Brazilian ‘Shogun’ who came back to claim the 4th round and then go on to dominate Henderson on the ground for the final round of the fight.

While there was some controversy in the media about whether the fight should have been scored a draw, with Rua being awarded a 10-8 score in the 5th round, there was agreement among sportswriters that the bout could be considered among the greatest fights of all time. Now if the greatest boxing match of all time is Marvin Hagler vs. Thomas Hearns and the greatest kickboxing fight is Ray Sefo vs. Mark Hunt, it should be just as easy to draw on the same collective answer to what is the best MMA fight in history. However its not that easy, in the 18 year history of mixed martial arts there has been so many exciting fights for different promotions that arriving a definitive answer is very hard to achieve. I have however composed a list of fights that can be in my opinion be considered the greatest MMA fights of all time.

1. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Mirko Filipovic
2. Nick Diaz vs. Takanori Gomi
3. Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen
4. Wanderlei Silva vs. Rampage Jackson 2
5. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Bob Sapp
6. Shogun Rua vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
7. Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard 2
8. Matt Hughes vs. Frank Trigg 2
9. Anderson Silva vs. Forrest Griffin
10. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Fedor Emelianenko 1
11. Nick Diaz vs. Paul Daley
12. Tito Ortiz vs. Frank Shamrock
13. Melvin Manhoef vs. Evangelista Santos
14. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Randy Couture
15. Shogun Rua vs. Forrest Griffin 1
16. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Josh Barnett 1
17. Wanderlei Silva vs. Chuck Liddell
18. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Fedor Emelianenko 3
19. Forrest Griffin vs. Stephan Bonnar 1
20. Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard 3
21. Wanderlei Silva vs. Rampage Jackson 1
22. Wanderlei Silva vs. Dan Henderson 2
23. Lyoto Machida vs. Shogun Rua (1 and 2)
24. Don Frye vs. Yoshiro Takayama
25. Clay Guida vs. Diego Sanchez
26. Pat Barry vs. Cheick Kongo
27. Nick Diaz vs. BJ Penn
28. Fedor Emelianenko vs. Dan Henderson
29. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Sergei Kharitonov
30. Mirko Filipovic vs. Gabriel Gonzaga
31. Rampage Jackson vs. Dan Henderson
32. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Heath Herring 1
33. Alexander Emelianenko vs. Sergei Kharitonov
34. Forrest Griffin vs. Rampage Jackson
35. Leonard Garcia vs. Jung Chan-Sung
36. Joachim Hansen vs. Luiz Azeredo
37. Lyoto Machida vs. Thiago Silva
38. Takanori Gomi vs. Jens Pulver
39. BJ Penn vs. Matt Hughes 2
40. James Thompson vs. Kazuyuki Yoshida
41. Jon Jones vs. Shogun Rua
42. Wanderlei Silva vs. Vitor Belfort
43. Roger Huerta vs. Clay Guida
44. Ryo Chonan vs. Anderson Silva
45. Mark Coleman vs. Igor Vovchanchyn
46. Randy Couture vs. Vitor Belfort 1
47. Wanderlei Silva vs. Mirko Filipovic 2
48. Shogun Rua vs. Ricardo Arona
49. Andrei Arlovski vs. Tim Sylvia 2
50. Rampage Jackson vs. Ricardo Arona

While a definitive list will always be somewhat controversial in its inclusions and omissions it inevitably comes down to a matter of opinion. Are fights that are evenly contested throughout better than fights that feature remarkable comeback victories? Are fights where the underdog pulls off a sensational win better than a champion delivering a career defining performance? It’s is ultimately my belief that a great fight is one where a fight transcends violence and sport and becomes an art form. This can be seen in Nogueira’s submission victory over Mirko ‘CroCop’ Filipovic in the number one spot. The fight will always stand out as the quintessential MMA fight where Nogueira finds himself on the wrong side of a stylistic mismatch, having to be saved by the bell from being finished by ‘CroCop’ at the very end of round one after taking a powerful headkick. Nogueira then at start of Round 2 manages to overcome adversity through sheer will, when he eventually takes the Croatian out of his comfort zone as world class kick boxer and manages to utilise his brilliant Brazilian jiu-jitsu for the armbar victory.

All these fights will be looked at in further instalments of this blog, however at the moment the question remains, where does Henderson vs. Shogun rank among them?

I think the answer is at number 6 just above Shogun similar fight with the Little Nogueira brother in the Pride FC’s 2005 middleweight Grand Prix Quarter Final. A fight it surpasses by delivering even more action. While Shogun gets off the Canvas to knock down his opponent in both fights he was never in as much danger against Nogueira as he was against Henderson, nor was he able to dictate the pace of the fight as frequently as he could against little Nog, recklessly diving into Brazilian’s guard with hard punches. Both fights ended the same way with Shogun outlasting his opponent he was unable to win the judges decision against Henderson who had done enough in the first three rounds. Ironically had the Henderson fight occurred under Pride rules Shogun may have won the decision as the scoring was not based on a round system instead the fight was reviewed as a whole, favouring the fighter that finishes stronger.

The list features some unusual inclusions such as the extremely one sided fights like Anderson Silva v Forrest Griffin or the under-rated Lyoto Machida v Thiago Silva. These fights were added due the brilliance performances delivered by the victors, both showing such a high level of technical skill as they pick apart highly ranked opposition, both fight culminating in stunning knockouts. Likewise upset victories such as Couture vs. Belfort and Gonzaga vs. Filipovic, where the underdogs were able to use effective strategies to turns the tables on their opponents and knock out men who many expected them to get knocked out by.

The list also features many of the same fighters multiple times, I think this is due to certain styles exhibited by the fighters. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira for example is known for taking tremendous punishment in fights only to comeback a pull of sensational submission wins from the bring of defeat. Likewise Nick Diaz has the ability to turn every fight into a exciting scrap, where his open defence leaves him prone to getting hit with hard shots, only to outlast his opponent due to his tremendous cardio and effective boxing. His ability to deliver accumulative damage to his opponents with his constant barrage of seemingly light punches can be seen in his fights with power punchers like Britain’s Paul Daley and Japan’s Takanori Gomi. Both men known for their one punch knockout ability and provided an interesting contrast to the stand up approach of Diaz. Despite being dropped twice in the first round against Daley by massive left hooks, Diaz’s exceptional cardio allowed him to recover where as the build up of damage done by Diaz on Daley proved to much as British fighter was overwhelmed with a combination of quick jabs and powerful shots disguised in combinations of light punches. While both fights were very short they were filled with more back on forth action than most fights on the list that went the distance.

Most great fights rely on fighters who have great chins and ability to take punishment way further than physical limits of ordinary fighters. Clay Guida for example features multiple times on the list due to his ability to push a fast pace in fights and his ability to take blows that would finish weaker fighters, such as the head kick he received in the first round against Diego Sanchez. The same is true for Henderson and Rua, people were intrigued in the pre-flight build up as neither have suffered true knockout defeats before, due to their iron chins, while both are known for their knockout power. This sort of clash, no matter how long it last is always a recipe for great action.

Ultimately while most great fights depend of the strength of the match up of the two fighters, both stylistically and physically, it takes that one special moment when the action of the fight defies the belief of possibility to truly become a great fight. Examples of this includes Frankie Edgar’s sensational repeat comebacks against Gary Maynard or Anderson Silva’s Magic against Forrest Griffin. In that regards the press are right in heralding the main event of UFC 139 as one of the best fights ever, due to the unbreakable will to win from both men and the ability to fight back in almost impossible situations.