Joined once more by Zane Simon from Bloody Elbow, we bring you 10 of the best brawls that have ever blessed the cage (or ring).
I’m more of a grappling fan than a striking fan, but even I won’t deny that little else can replicate the anticipation and excitement generated by all-out brawls in MMA. They have you on the edge of your seat the whole time.
The best brawls come from fairly matched opponents; while lopsided matchmaking may deliver highlight-reel knockouts, they’re not satisfying. Watching two evenly matched elite strikers try to outwit each other with their fists and footwork is to witness the combat sports equivalent of a masterpiece. As MMA has evolved and refined itself over the years, we’ve seen the cream of the crop of brawls get honed to a new level as well.
What constitutes “best” is subjective; our main criteria were relevance and degree of technicality or sheer insanity. The other criterion was that the fight wasn’t Don Frye vs. Yoshihiro Takayama. This is a list of the best brawls…aside from that one.
Really, there were so many possibilities, we can’t include them all, even with an honorable mentions slide. Tell us in the comments what’s missing!