BE’s Greatest MMA Fight of All Time Bracket: Initial Field

June M. Williams

Check out the Bloody Elbow’s Baddest Tournament bracket to determine the Greatest MMA Fight of All Time. The field of 32 will be whittled down to just one.

The nominees have been gathered up and the brackets have been completed. It’s time to find out what is the Greatest MMA Fight of All Time, the one to watch before the world ends. Originally the tournament was going to be limited to 16 participants, but since so many awesome matchups were nominated, we’ve decided to expand the field to 32. Tomorrow (March 30th), BE’s Baddest Tournament Series begins again! Our first matchup will be in the red corner, where the #1 ranked Robbie Lawler vs. Rory MacDonald 2 takes on the #8 ranked Yair Rodriguez vs. Korean Zombie.

Take a look at the full bracket below.

The bracket has been divided into two corners, red and blue, with those divisions further split up into Region A and Region B. The four nominees who received the highest amount of votes, or RECs, in the nomination thread all earned a number-one seed.

With 52 votes, the epic classic Robbie Lawler vs. Rory MacDonald 2 is the true #1 seed. After that, Dan Henderson vs. Mauricio Shogun Rua 1 earned the second-most votes at 44. With 35 votes a piece, Weili Zhang vs. Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Don Frye vs. Yoshihiro Takayama have also won #1 seeds.

If you do not see your favorite all time MMA fight in the bracket, well, you only have yourself to blame. How the seeds were determined based on your comments and ‘RECS’ in the nomination thread…

RED CORNER ROUND 1 MATCH UPS

“Region A”

1 – Robbie Lawler vs. Rory MacDonald 2 – 52 votes
VS.
8 – Yair Rodriguez vs. Korean Zombie – 11 votes

2 – Israel Adesanya vs. Kelvin Gastelum – 27 votes
VS.
7 – TJ Dillashaw vs. Dominick Cruz – 19 votes

3 – Jose Aldo vs. Chad Mendes II – 26 votes
VS.
6 – Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard 3 – 19 votes

4 – Dustin Poirier vs. Korean Zombie – 24 votes
VS.
5 – Eddie Alvarez vs. Justin Gaethje – 23 votes

__________________________

“Region B”

1 – Zhang vs. Jedrzejczyk – 35 votes
VS.
8 – Henderson vs. Pettis 1 – 13 votes

2 – Robbie Lawler vs. Carlos Condit – 35 votes
VS.
7 – Alvarez vs. Chandler I – 14 votes

3 – Justin Gaethje vs. Michael Johnson – 26 votes
VS.
6 – Fedor vs. Randleman – 19 votes

4 – Wanderlei Silva vs. Brian Stann – 25 votes
VS.
5 – Cub Swanson vs. Doo Ho Choi – 20 votes

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BLUE CORNER ROUND 1 MATCH UPS

“Region A”

1 – Dan Henderson vs. Mauricio Shogun Rua 1 – 44 votes

8 – Shogun vs. Little Nog 1 – 12 votes

2 – Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard 2 – 28 votes
VS.
7 – Paulo Costa vs. Yoel Romero – 17 votes

3 – Jon Jones vs. Alexander Gustafsson 1 – 26 votes
VS.
6 – Nick Diaz vs. Takanori Gomi – 19 votes

4 – Fedor vs. Cro Cop – 25 votes
VS.
5 – Wanderlei Silva vs. Rampage 2 – 22 votes

__________________________

“Region B”

1 – Don Frye vs. Yoshihiro Takayama – 35 votes
VS.
8 – Brock Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin – 12 votes

2 – Mark Hunt vs. Antonio Silva 1 – 31 votes
VS.
7 – Sakuraba vs. Royce Gracie – 15 votes

3 – Dustin Poirier vs. Justin Gaethje – 26 votes
VS.
6 – Whittaker vs. Romero II – 19 votes

4 – Griffin vs. Bonnar – 25 votes
VS.
5 – Cheick Kongo vs. Pat Barry – 20 votes

Be sure to vote in the first bout tomorrow right here on Bloody Elbow. Make your vote count!

Vote Tallying & Tournament Brackets via June M. Williams

Big thanks to longtime BE contributor Fraser Coffeen for paving the way with these brackets! Tournament graphics provided by June M. Williams.