After watching Clay Guida and Gray Maynard in their last fight, it became painfully clear that you don’t always find fire where you find smoke.
Guida vs. Maynard looked like it had all the makings of a Fight of the Year candidate, but ended up being a dud, which was shocking considering both men.
Yet, the main fault seems to belong to Guida and the strategy employed by Team Jackson, which is all the more alarming, considering how many incredible fights we’ve seen from Guida.
Contrast that to Wanderlei Silva, who at UFC 147 once again put his money where his mouth was, thrilling the fans with another one of his take-no-prisoners performances.
Men like Silva are a rare species of fighter: they place a higher value on action than they do their own record and personal health. For them, it is better to lose in glory than win in mediocrity.
Then, there is another kind of equally electrifying fighter: a man who’s dominance is based around the ability to crush opponents in a style all his own. He has an aura of danger, brilliance and destruction (or a combination of the three) that makes fans want to see him fight, win or lose.
The sport needs such men and the excitement they bring, because as it grows, a winning record becomes more and more important. If a fighter hopes to rise in the sport, the question ceases to be “How did you fight?” and becomes more of a statement: “Win today, excite tomorrow.”
Here is a list of men who have never lost sight of the question for very long, and how they fight (or fought) became the statement by which they are known.
Honorable mentions: Jon Jones, Nate Diaz, Mirko Cro-Cop, Donald Cerrone and Martin Kampmann.