Let’s be honest, there weren’t many of us out there biting our nails in anticipation of Mac Danzig vs. Matt Wiman Part II in the weeks leading up to it, but boy were we wrong. The rematch, which took home Fight of the Night Honors, was a back and forth, blood soaked brawl, and we loved every second of it. So it is in light of their triumph that we present you, Potato Nation, with five rematches, in no particular order, that we can expect to see as soon as Joe Silva starts returning our calls.
5. Carlos Condit vs. Rory Macdonald
Depending on how well Carlos Condit does in his upcoming title fight against GSP, the possibility of seeing these two welterweight brutes tangle again seems pretty high. Both have been on a tear as of late, and the first fight between them was nothing short of extraordinary.
Macdonald, a relatively unknown at the time, gave the final WEC welterweight champ all he could handle, utilizing a beautiful array of kicks and takedowns to keep Condit off balance for the better part of two rounds. Condit was able to shake off the cobwebs and mount a ground and pound clinic on Macdonald in the third however, finishing him off with just 7 seconds left in the fight. If Condit is able to defeat GSP, and if Rory can get by Brian Ebersole at UFC 140 (and maybe another, higher tier fighter), then we have the makings of one hell of a title fight.
4. Diego Sanchez vs. Martin Kampmann
The main event of the third UFC on Versus, this fight changed the perspective on how much punishment someone could absorb while still walking away the victor. For three rounds, Kampmann brutalized “The Nightmare” “The Dream’s” face with sharp punches, but Sanchez waded through nearly all of them, landing a few nice combinations of his own and scoring a takedown in the third round. “The Hitman” quickly found himself on the losing side of another razor-thin decision, and protested it with the infamous “Look at that dude’s fucking face!” defense, to no avail. Add to that their heated Twitter feud and we’ve got ourselves a full blown grudge match, and we all know how much the UFC loves those. Both guys are facing tough tests in their next fights, Kampmann takes on Rick Story at UFC 139 and Sanchez takes on Jake Ellenberger at UFC 141. When the smoke clears from all that, who honestly wouldn’t want to see these guys go to war again?
3. Forrest Griffin v. Quinton Jackson
Their title fight back at UFC 86 marked the first time a TUF winner would ever don UFC gold, discounting our boy Matt Serra of course, who the world was aware of before his time on The Ultimate Fighter. The decision was controversial, its aftermath even more so. But with 520,000 pay-per-view buy’s the first time around, this rematch could easily boost up a card’s interest level, though maybe as a co-main event this time.
Though “Rampage” seems destined for other venues, there’s no doubt that this is one loss that he would like to erase before his contract expires…in fact, he has been repeatedly begging for it. Griffin, on the other hand, finds himself in an unusual place amongst the UFC’s light heavyweight division. On the heels of knockout loss to Maricio Rua at UFC 134, a win over Jackson would not only validate his original victory, but propel him back up the light heavyweight ranks. If anything, it will be interesting just to see if DW can get Forrest to leave Vegas again.
2. Edson Barboza vs. Ross Pearson
The first fight, which just recently transpired at UFC 134, was the very definition of a battle between a brawler and a technical striker. Pearson looked about as good as he could in the loss, repeatedly tagging Barboza despite the Brazilian’s reach advantage. Barboza however, was able to land more consistently and with more pizzazz, walking away with the split decision victory in his second consecutive Fight of the Night winning performance.
Though a win in the rematch wouldn’t do much for either fighter in terms of stock value, this is just one of those fights that we simply want to watch again as fans of the sport, regardless of rankings. Some of us weren’t exactly convinced that Barboza deserved the nod, stating Pearson’s constant pressure as a determining factor. And since neither fighter has anything booked at the moment, why not give it another go?
1. Miguel Torres vs. Takeya Mizugaki
Ah, the good old days of the WEC. Back in 2009, Miguel Torres was about as close as you could get to an unbeatable fighter. Takeya Mizugaki was an unknown Shooto vet with a penchant for brawling, and my God what a brawl this turned into. In a fight that was nominated across the forum world for fight of the year, Torres and Mizugaki stood toe-to-toe for 25 minutes and threw down, with each fighter not letting a strike go unanswered.
Coming off a second round TKO of Cole Escovedo at UFC 135, Mizugaki arguably has the momentum in his favor this time around, as Torres will be trying to rebound from a unanimous decision loss to Demetrious Johnson against Nick Pace at UFC 139. If he can best Pace, then this rematch would make all the more sense in terms of the bantamweight picture. If not, then this fight would still be a nice addition to any card in need of fireworks.
-Danga
What say you, Potato Nation? Are there any other rematches that you are currently blowing up DW’s Twitter with requests for? Let us know in the comments section.