Top 10 UFC Feuds
10. Rory MacDonald vs Jake Ellenberger
Rory MacDonald and Jake Ellenberger were upcoming names from 2010-2012. Ellenberger had racked a UFC record of 7-2 before the years end, and MacDonald had absolutely dominated a legend in BJ Penn while also going 5-1 with both men losing to once interim welterweight champion Carlos Condit. It'd only be a matter of time before these two young, rising welterweights would eventually meet in the octagon at UFC on Fox 8, but things got heated right as soon as the dotted line was signed. Immediately Ellenberger took to social media bashing Rory MacDonald saying "In prehistoric times, I'd be better at killing mastodons and he'd be better at cleaning caves". Things didn't stop there though, as weeks before the fight Ellenberger and MacDonald engaged in an all out twitter war which saw Ellenberger attack MacDonald's apparent spelling mistakes. Ellenberger's trash talk continued as Rory kept mostly quiet saying he was going to embarass Ellenberger while Ellenberger called MacDonald's current ranking 'ridiculous'. When the two finally met in the co main event of UFC on Fox 8, they were both very tentative and put on what many call the worst main card fight of 2013, which saw MacDonald utilize his size and reach to outstrike Ellenberger en route to a unanimous decision.
9. Georges St-Pierre vs BJ Penn
Arguably considered two of the best fighters to ever live, BJ Penn and Georges St-Pierre didn't bother to dispute that claim. The first time these two met was at UFC 58: USA vs Canada, where Georges St-Pierre scored a split decision over Penn, in a fight that many call one of the greatest fights of all time. Penn landed an uppercut that broke St-Pierre's nose, but the once 170lb king quickly rallied with superior wrestling and ground and pound to take home the victory. St-Pierre was next up to face Matt Hughes, but ended up pulling out due to injury in which Penn faced Hughes in a non title match. After losing to Hughes, St-Pierre defeated him to win the welterweight champion where he would go on to dominate the division after a loss to Matt Serra which he avenged and regained the title after also defeating Hughes once again and Josh Koscheck along the way. Meanwhile, Penn decided to drop down to lightweight, where he avenged his lone loss in the division to Jens Pulver, claimed the belt against Joe Stevenson, and dominated former champion Sean Sherk. After defeating Sherk, Joe Rogan questioned if Penn was interested in a rematch with Georges St-Pierre, Penn petitioned the fans who responded with thunderous cheers and after St-Pierre defeated Jon Fitch the match was officially on. Penn failed to anger St-Pierre with his pre fight trash talk and St-Pierre demonstrated a dominant performance when the two met at UFC 94. The first round saw a stalemate as St-Pierre failed to take Penn down or land any significant strikes. But the champion quickly regained focus after scoring his first takedown in the second round and that shifted the momentum of the whole fight. In the third round, St-Pierre landed a superman punch to the nose of Penn which caused his nose to bleed profusely, out struck him with level changes, took him down at will, and constantly punished him with relentless ground and pound. By the time the fifth round had come, Penn's corner decided he had enough and called for an immediate stop to the match. Things escalated even after the fight, as Penn had accused St-Pierre's cornerman of greasing St-Pierre in between rounds. Penn's corner had filed a complaint and ordered for an immediate rematch but eventually the NSAC determined things had been no different even if there was any greasing involved.
8. Rampage Jackson vs Rashad Evans
Quinton "Rampage" Jackson was hot upon entering the UFC from Pride Fighting Championships, after defeating Marvin Eastman who gave Rampage his first loss, he challenged Chuck Liddell for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship and knocked the Iceman out in the first round. Rampage proved that his win was no fluke when he defeated Dan Henderson in September of that year, but was left with a bad taste in his mouth when he lost the title to Forrest Griffin, a fight that Rampage thought he should have won. Matters were even worse when Rashad Evans who was also fresh off a knockout win over Chuck Liddell challenged Griffin for the title and defeated him via TKO. This angered the former champion but he would get the next best thing when he defeated Evans' team mate Keith Jardine. Rampage narrowly defeated Jardine and many believe that it was a punch at the end of the round that may have caused the judges' to favor Rampage that night, after the fight Rashad entered the cage and got in Rampage's face in which Rampage responded by saying "You about to see some black on black crime"! The two were scheduled to meet at UFC 98 but Rampage pulled out of the fight and was replaced with Lyoto Machida who knocked Evans out in the second round and claimed the title. The two were then set to coach The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights which featured highly touted Kimbo Slice, but much of the attention was focused on Rampage and Rashad's confrontations throughout the show and Rampage's infamous door breaking. The two were set to headline UFC 107 in Rampage's hometown of Memphis but once again Rampage pulled out saying he was "done fighting" and Rashad faced Thiago Silva at UFC 108. Eventually after viewing The Ultimate Fighter for himself, Rampage agreed to come out of retirement and finally fight Evans at UFC 114 in what was touted as the biggest grudge match in UFC history. Evans rocked Rampage early in the first round and consistantly took Rampage down and controlled him on the ground, the fight saw the momentum change in the third round where Rampage tagged Evans and nearly finished him, but Rashad recovered and out wrestled Rampage to pick up a unanimous decision in another over hyped fight.
7. Brock Lesnar vs Frank Mir
The UFC entrance of Brock Lesnar was probably one of the most anticipated things that the UFC had in recent memory, the former WWE champion was the most notable pro wrestler to cross over to MMA in 2008 and was matched up with jiu jitsu ace Frank Mir at UFC 81. Lesnar quickly took Mir down and ground and pounded Mir but accidently hit him in the back of the head which caused referee Steve Mazagatti to take one point off immediately. As soon as they resumed the fight, Lesnar assumed the full guard position and stood up in the guard which allowed Mir to lock in a kneebar and forcing Lesnar to tap. Mir then took a coaching stint on the Ultimate Fighter opposite Interim champion Antonio Minotauro Nogueira where as Lesnar defeated Heath Herring and UFC Heavyweight Champion Randy Couture. After the stint, Mir faced Nogueira where he became the very first man to finish Nogueira, and then pointed to Brock Lesnar in the crowd and said "You have my belt". When the two finally met, things were very intense as Brock Lesnar feigned a glove touch and the fight was on. In this fight, Brock Lesnar put on Sherdog's 2009 beatdown of the year by dong what Brock Lesnar does best, taking Mir down and bringing those size XXXXL gloves down on Frank Mir's face. A lot of people were suprised that Mir made it out of the first round and much of the onslaught continued in the second round which saw the fight stopped at 1:48 of the second round. Following the fight was Lesnar's unforgettable post fight antics which saw him get in Mir's face and say "Talk all the shit you want", flipping off the crowd, and slamming Bud Light which was UFC's sponsor at the time. Eventually he apologized and was shown at the post fight press conference drinking a Bud Light.
6. Dominick Cruz vs Urijah Faber
Number 6 is the very first feud in any of combat sports where we saw the winner of the first fight call out the loser. Dominick Cruz came to the WEC with championships from two different weight classes and right off the bat he was challenging then WEC Featherweight Champion Urijah Faber for the title. Cruz immediately felt disrespected with the way that the fight was promoted as Urijah's face was on the front where as his would not, and made matters worse by signing his name over top of Urijah's face which offended the champion. The two met at WEC 26 which saw Faber quickly defeat Cruz with a Guillotine Choke at 1:38 of Round 1. Cruz once again felt disrespected when Urijah put up a certain hand gesture and said "good fight" to Cruz after all of which had transpired. Cruz then dropped down the bantamweight division where he has yet to be defeated, and in one of those fights defeated Faber's alpha male team mate Joseph Benavidez before defeating Brian Bowles for the WEC Bantamweight Championship. Faber on the other hand had been on a bit of a down slope - dropping the title to Mike Brown, failing to regain the title, and losing to Jose Aldo (who defeated Brown for the title) in a 5 round beatdown which saw Faber's leg completely punished. Cruz once again defeated Benavidez along with Scott Jorgensen while Faber dropped down to Bantamweight and defeated Takeya Mizugaki and Eddie Wineland. The stage was set for the interesting rematch at UFC 132 which would be the very first UFC Bantamweight Championship fight in history. The fight saw Cruz land more strikes but Urijah ultimately did more damage dropping him three times in the fight with right hands off the clinch exits. Ultimately the judge's awarded the unanimous decision to Cruz but the feud still continues to this day and even made its way over the The Ultimate Fighter's debut on FX. The two were scheduled to meet once again but Dominick Cruz blew out his ACL which forced Renan Barao into the title scene. The feud still goes on to this day but it'll be a long time before we see these two finally compete for the third time.
5. Jon Jones vs Rashad Evans
This is probably one of the most unique out of any list as this is the only feud on our list were the two were at one time training partners. When Jon Jones made his UFC debut, Rashad Evans was challenging for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship. And throughout Jones' rise in the UFC, Evans lost the title and was engaged in a feud with Rampage Jackson. Just as he was set to face Mauricio Shogun Rua for the title, Evans blew out his knee in a training session. This forced Dana White desperate for a challenger, but immediately saw potential in Jones who had just defeated Ryan Bader and was on 6-1 octagon stretch with his only loss being a disputed disqualification to Matt Hamill. Although Evans was happy for his training partner at the time of the acceptance, it grew to jealousy as Rashad said should he defeat Shogun, he would leave Jackson's submission fighting for good. Eventually that did happen and Evans moved to Imperial Athletics down in Boca Raton Florida (which they now call themselves the blackzillians). The two were originally set to meet at UFC 132 but Jones pulled out of the fight citing a hand injury. Evans in the meantime defeated Tito Ortiz while Jones defeated Rampage Jackson, the two were set to meet each other at UFC 140 but this time Rashad pulled out with a thumb injury and instead faced Lyoto Machida. After Evans defeated Phil Davis at UFC on Fox 2, the two finally faced each other at UFC 145 at the Phillips Arena in Atlanta Georgia - the same arena in which he had knocked out Chuck Liddell in. But Evans could not repeat that performance and although he caught the champion with a clean head kick in the first round, the following rounds were dominated by Jones who used an abundance of elbows to pick up the unanimous decision. We haven't heard too much of this since than, but we know that Jones has gone on record to say that things will never be the same with Rashad Evans.
4. Georges St-Pierre vs Nick Diaz
Nick Diaz is highly regarded as one MMA's biggest villains, where as St-Pierre is looked at as one of MMA's biggest heroes, which set the stage for this classic good guy vs bad guy feud. Georges St-Pierre was clearly dominating the scene in the UFC with wins over Jon Fitch, BJ Penn, Thiago Alves, Dan Hardy, Josh Koscheck, and Diaz's scrap pack team mate Jake Shields. While that happened, Nick Diaz had done the same in the UFC's rival promotion Strikeforce which saw him defeat the likes of KJ Noons, Evangelista Santos, and Paul Daley. The two were originally set to face off at UFC 137, but Diaz failed to show up for any of the press events which forced Dana White to pull him from the main event and replace him with Carlos Condit who was originally scheduled to face BJ Penn that night, while Diaz was bumped down the card and set to face Penn himself. After St-Pierre was pulled from the card due to injury, the fight between Diaz and Penn served as the main event which saw Diaz onslaught Penn with a barrage of punches, then proceded to call out the champion after the fight. The call out caused St-Pierre to do what no opponent had done in the past and caused St-Pierre to flip out and immediately demanded a match with the Stockton bad boy. St-Pierre and Diaz would once again be set to face each other at UFC 143, but St-Pierre was once again injured this time tearing his ACL, in which he would face a lengthy layoff. This led to Diaz battling Carlos Condit for the interim title which saw Carlos visibly out strike Diaz with level changes and mixed attack, giving Condit the right to challenge St-Pierre for the title and leading Diaz to temporarily quit the business. After the champ returned to the octagon and defeated Condit at UFC 154, he immediately called for a match with Diaz and the two were set to fight at UFC 158 in St-Pierre's hometown of Montreal. The match saw St-Pierre dominate Diaz like with mixed striking, superior wrestling, and dominant ground and pound which saw the champ cruise to a unanimous decision win and once again Diaz went into retirement.
3. Ronda Rousey vs Miesha Tate
The first female feud on our list has been arguably one of the most intense rivalries in recent memory as this is what's known to most people as the fight that put Ronda Rousey on the map. Miesha Tate was currently representing Strikeforce as its women's bantamweight championship, and although Ronda Rousey was fighting at 145 pounds, she immediately announced her intentions to drop down and take the title from Tate. The two met for the Strikeforce Women's Bantamweight Championship, and much like all of Rousey's fallen foes before her - Tate quickly succumbed to her trademark armbar at 4:27 in the first round. Ronda Rousey quickly rose to fame after the fight and defeated the Sarah Kaufman in the same fashion she's done to so many before her with a first round armbar. Eventually after Strikeforce was absorbed through the UFC - Rousey became the first woman to compete in the organization by defeated Liz Carmouche via armbar, while Tate had competed (but come short) against Cat Zigano which earned her fight of the night honors. Although the stage was set for Zigano and Rousey to fight for the title, Zigano was forced out with a torn ACL and Tate replaced them in arguably the most heated season of the Ultimate Fighter. The two brought their rivalry over to the octagon and although Tate put up one hell of a fight and even managed to make it to the third round, she once agan succumbed to Ronda's deadly armbar. But Tate found victory in defeat though, as she once again earned fight of the night honors. Since then, both competitors have been on the W side as Ronda defeated Sara McMann via TKO and Tate scored her first UFC win defeating Liz Carmouche by unanimous decision. Time will only tell if these two will face off again, but personally I can't wait if they do.
2. Chuck Liddell vs Tito Ortiz
Highly regarded as perhaps the most intense feud in UFC history, this fight spans over the course of many years. Both Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz were both pioneers in the early days of the UFC's Light Heavyweight Division. Ortiz was the current champion and smashing through competition while Liddell had been coming off wins from names such as Guy Mezger and Vitor Belfort. Although he was the champion, Ortiz did everything he could to avoid fighting Liddell whom he had trained with in the past and failed to do him any justice. Eventually Liddell was awarded an interim title shot in 2003 against Randy Couture who was coming down to Light Heavyweight for the first time in his career where he lost a third round TKO due to poor cardio. Eventually he went on to defeat Tito Ortiz for the championship shortly afterwards which led Joe Silva and Sean Shelby to run out of match making options, and after a brief stint in the Pride organization - Liddell eventually faced Ortiz at UFC 47. Most of the match was a feeling out process until the Iceman started to get loose and Ortiz slapped his head to taunt the Iceman, and even shoved referee Big John McCarthy into Liddell. Straight out of the second round, Liddell came out out on a mission and landed a flurry of punches which forced Tito to drop to the mat and referee Big John McCarthy to stop the fight. Tito was devastated even going so far as to say Liddell's thumb made contact with his eye. Chuck Liddell was set to coach the first season of the Ultimate Fighter against Randy Couture in which the two would rematch while Tito Ortiz defeated Patrick Cote and Vitor Belfort and entered contract disputes that would not see him in the octagon until April 2006. Within his abscene, the iceman defeated Jeremy Horn, Renato Babalu Sobral, and Randy Couture a second time but when Tito returned to the octagon he defeated Forrest Griffin, and Ken Shamrock twice all in 6 months time. The two eventually met at UFC 66 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas in what's still to this day considered the most financially succesful UFC event in history. The fight was more exciting than the first as Liddell's superior takedown defense negated Ortiz from mounting any kind of offense, excluding one time when Ortiz took Liddell down and was able to take his back. But Ortiz was unable to capitalize and lost via TKO in the third round. The feud still continues to this day and even found its own stint on the The Ultimate Fighter, 3 and a half years later. Ortiz eventually drew from the fight signing neck injuries and Liddell faced Rich Franklin in what was ultimately Chuck Liddell's final UFC bout. Currently Ortiz competes in Bellator where Liddell is now enjoying life as the UFC's President of Business relations, they may never meet again but the bad blood is definitely still there!
And the number 1 feud is........
1. Anderson Silva vs Chael Sonnen
Number one should come as no mystery as this has been regarded as the most intense and anticipated feud in UFC history. Chael Sonnen was nearly unknown in 2010 as he entered the octagon against Nate Marquardt, he defeated Dan Miller and Yushin Okami but had never won a noteable championship. When he defeated Marquardt, Sonnen immediately began verbally campaigning against Silva who he claimed was ducking him for the last 4 years and constantly verbally attacked the champion and his black house team mates. The two eventually met at UFC 117 following Silva's circus act like performance at UFC 112 against Demian Maia and viewers saw Chael did the unthinkable as for four rounds, the challenger took to the champion with heavy punches on the feet, and superior wrestling and ground and pound. In the 5th round, Sonnen caught Silva with a clean left hook and once again established position but before two minutes Silva locked up an armbar/triangle combination that forced Sonnen to tap at 3:10 in the final round. Sonnen landed 289 strikes, took Silva down 4 times, and established a total of 17 minutes in top position, it's safe to say that Sonnen did the biggest number on Silva than anybody had in his whole career. Following the fight, Sonnen tested positive for synthetic testosterone with his testosterone levels being one tenth above the state standard. Sonnen was then suspended for year and fined $2,500 by the California State Athletic Commission, and while talks for a rematch were in effect, after the issue had come to light it was cancelled. While Silva had defended his title against Vitor Belfort with the most spectacular knockout in UFC history, Sonnen faced legal troubles by pleading guilty to money laundering charges and found himself fined another 10,000 dollars along with two years probation and although his suspension was cut temporarily he was once again suspended for another six months prior to the convicton. Silva defeated Yushin Okami at UFC 134 and Sonnen finally made his return defeating Brian Stann at UFC 136 by Submission via Arm Triangle Choke. Sonnen was then set to face Mark Munoz for the number one contendership of the Middleweight championship but Munoz withdrew from the fight and was replaced with Michael Bisping who Sonnen narrowly defeated by unanimous decision at UFC on Fox 2. The stage was finally set for the two to once again compete, and although they were orignally set to face each other at a soccer stadium in Brazil, but a scheduling conflict forced the fight to be moved to UFC 148 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Things got intense at the weigh in as Silva hit Sonnen with his shoulder but were seperated by Dana White. When time came for the fight, it panned out pretty much the same way that the first fight did with Sonnen taking Silva down and constantly pressuring the champion with relentless ground and pound, out striking Silva 76-0. In the second round, Sonnen became a little desperate and attempted to throw a spinning back fist which forced him to fall down on his butt and Silva capitalized by hitting a knee to the chest and then swarmed on the challenger, forcing referee Yves Lavigne to stop the fight at 1:55 of the second round. Since then, the two have patched things up. Silva even invited Sonnen to his place in Brazil for a barbeque but Sonnen failed to attend. However when Sonnen announced his retirement earlier this month, he thanked Silva for the opportunities and called Silva his biggest teacher.
Honorable mentions: Georges St-Pierre vs Josh Koscheck, Matt Hughes vs Matt Serra, Nick Diaz vs Paul Daley, Cain Velasquez vs Junior Dos Santos, Frankie Edgar vs Gray Maynard
10. Rory MacDonald vs Jake Ellenberger
Rory MacDonald and Jake Ellenberger were upcoming names from 2010-2012. Ellenberger had racked a UFC record of 7-2 before the years end, and MacDonald had absolutely dominated a legend in BJ Penn while also going 5-1 with both men losing to once interim welterweight champion Carlos Condit. It'd only be a matter of time before these two young, rising welterweights would eventually meet in the octagon at UFC on Fox 8, but things got heated right as soon as the dotted line was signed. Immediately Ellenberger took to social media bashing Rory MacDonald saying "In prehistoric times, I'd be better at killing mastodons and he'd be better at cleaning caves". Things didn't stop there though, as weeks before the fight Ellenberger and MacDonald engaged in an all out twitter war which saw Ellenberger attack MacDonald's apparent spelling mistakes. Ellenberger's trash talk continued as Rory kept mostly quiet saying he was going to embarass Ellenberger while Ellenberger called MacDonald's current ranking 'ridiculous'. When the two finally met in the co main event of UFC on Fox 8, they were both very tentative and put on what many call the worst main card fight of 2013, which saw MacDonald utilize his size and reach to outstrike Ellenberger en route to a unanimous decision.
9. Georges St-Pierre vs BJ Penn
Arguably considered two of the best fighters to ever live, BJ Penn and Georges St-Pierre didn't bother to dispute that claim. The first time these two met was at UFC 58: USA vs Canada, where Georges St-Pierre scored a split decision over Penn, in a fight that many call one of the greatest fights of all time. Penn landed an uppercut that broke St-Pierre's nose, but the once 170lb king quickly rallied with superior wrestling and ground and pound to take home the victory. St-Pierre was next up to face Matt Hughes, but ended up pulling out due to injury in which Penn faced Hughes in a non title match. After losing to Hughes, St-Pierre defeated him to win the welterweight champion where he would go on to dominate the division after a loss to Matt Serra which he avenged and regained the title after also defeating Hughes once again and Josh Koscheck along the way. Meanwhile, Penn decided to drop down to lightweight, where he avenged his lone loss in the division to Jens Pulver, claimed the belt against Joe Stevenson, and dominated former champion Sean Sherk. After defeating Sherk, Joe Rogan questioned if Penn was interested in a rematch with Georges St-Pierre, Penn petitioned the fans who responded with thunderous cheers and after St-Pierre defeated Jon Fitch the match was officially on. Penn failed to anger St-Pierre with his pre fight trash talk and St-Pierre demonstrated a dominant performance when the two met at UFC 94. The first round saw a stalemate as St-Pierre failed to take Penn down or land any significant strikes. But the champion quickly regained focus after scoring his first takedown in the second round and that shifted the momentum of the whole fight. In the third round, St-Pierre landed a superman punch to the nose of Penn which caused his nose to bleed profusely, out struck him with level changes, took him down at will, and constantly punished him with relentless ground and pound. By the time the fifth round had come, Penn's corner decided he had enough and called for an immediate stop to the match. Things escalated even after the fight, as Penn had accused St-Pierre's cornerman of greasing St-Pierre in between rounds. Penn's corner had filed a complaint and ordered for an immediate rematch but eventually the NSAC determined things had been no different even if there was any greasing involved.
8. Rampage Jackson vs Rashad Evans
Quinton "Rampage" Jackson was hot upon entering the UFC from Pride Fighting Championships, after defeating Marvin Eastman who gave Rampage his first loss, he challenged Chuck Liddell for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship and knocked the Iceman out in the first round. Rampage proved that his win was no fluke when he defeated Dan Henderson in September of that year, but was left with a bad taste in his mouth when he lost the title to Forrest Griffin, a fight that Rampage thought he should have won. Matters were even worse when Rashad Evans who was also fresh off a knockout win over Chuck Liddell challenged Griffin for the title and defeated him via TKO. This angered the former champion but he would get the next best thing when he defeated Evans' team mate Keith Jardine. Rampage narrowly defeated Jardine and many believe that it was a punch at the end of the round that may have caused the judges' to favor Rampage that night, after the fight Rashad entered the cage and got in Rampage's face in which Rampage responded by saying "You about to see some black on black crime"! The two were scheduled to meet at UFC 98 but Rampage pulled out of the fight and was replaced with Lyoto Machida who knocked Evans out in the second round and claimed the title. The two were then set to coach The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights which featured highly touted Kimbo Slice, but much of the attention was focused on Rampage and Rashad's confrontations throughout the show and Rampage's infamous door breaking. The two were set to headline UFC 107 in Rampage's hometown of Memphis but once again Rampage pulled out saying he was "done fighting" and Rashad faced Thiago Silva at UFC 108. Eventually after viewing The Ultimate Fighter for himself, Rampage agreed to come out of retirement and finally fight Evans at UFC 114 in what was touted as the biggest grudge match in UFC history. Evans rocked Rampage early in the first round and consistantly took Rampage down and controlled him on the ground, the fight saw the momentum change in the third round where Rampage tagged Evans and nearly finished him, but Rashad recovered and out wrestled Rampage to pick up a unanimous decision in another over hyped fight.
7. Brock Lesnar vs Frank Mir
The UFC entrance of Brock Lesnar was probably one of the most anticipated things that the UFC had in recent memory, the former WWE champion was the most notable pro wrestler to cross over to MMA in 2008 and was matched up with jiu jitsu ace Frank Mir at UFC 81. Lesnar quickly took Mir down and ground and pounded Mir but accidently hit him in the back of the head which caused referee Steve Mazagatti to take one point off immediately. As soon as they resumed the fight, Lesnar assumed the full guard position and stood up in the guard which allowed Mir to lock in a kneebar and forcing Lesnar to tap. Mir then took a coaching stint on the Ultimate Fighter opposite Interim champion Antonio Minotauro Nogueira where as Lesnar defeated Heath Herring and UFC Heavyweight Champion Randy Couture. After the stint, Mir faced Nogueira where he became the very first man to finish Nogueira, and then pointed to Brock Lesnar in the crowd and said "You have my belt". When the two finally met, things were very intense as Brock Lesnar feigned a glove touch and the fight was on. In this fight, Brock Lesnar put on Sherdog's 2009 beatdown of the year by dong what Brock Lesnar does best, taking Mir down and bringing those size XXXXL gloves down on Frank Mir's face. A lot of people were suprised that Mir made it out of the first round and much of the onslaught continued in the second round which saw the fight stopped at 1:48 of the second round. Following the fight was Lesnar's unforgettable post fight antics which saw him get in Mir's face and say "Talk all the shit you want", flipping off the crowd, and slamming Bud Light which was UFC's sponsor at the time. Eventually he apologized and was shown at the post fight press conference drinking a Bud Light.
6. Dominick Cruz vs Urijah Faber
Number 6 is the very first feud in any of combat sports where we saw the winner of the first fight call out the loser. Dominick Cruz came to the WEC with championships from two different weight classes and right off the bat he was challenging then WEC Featherweight Champion Urijah Faber for the title. Cruz immediately felt disrespected with the way that the fight was promoted as Urijah's face was on the front where as his would not, and made matters worse by signing his name over top of Urijah's face which offended the champion. The two met at WEC 26 which saw Faber quickly defeat Cruz with a Guillotine Choke at 1:38 of Round 1. Cruz once again felt disrespected when Urijah put up a certain hand gesture and said "good fight" to Cruz after all of which had transpired. Cruz then dropped down the bantamweight division where he has yet to be defeated, and in one of those fights defeated Faber's alpha male team mate Joseph Benavidez before defeating Brian Bowles for the WEC Bantamweight Championship. Faber on the other hand had been on a bit of a down slope - dropping the title to Mike Brown, failing to regain the title, and losing to Jose Aldo (who defeated Brown for the title) in a 5 round beatdown which saw Faber's leg completely punished. Cruz once again defeated Benavidez along with Scott Jorgensen while Faber dropped down to Bantamweight and defeated Takeya Mizugaki and Eddie Wineland. The stage was set for the interesting rematch at UFC 132 which would be the very first UFC Bantamweight Championship fight in history. The fight saw Cruz land more strikes but Urijah ultimately did more damage dropping him three times in the fight with right hands off the clinch exits. Ultimately the judge's awarded the unanimous decision to Cruz but the feud still continues to this day and even made its way over the The Ultimate Fighter's debut on FX. The two were scheduled to meet once again but Dominick Cruz blew out his ACL which forced Renan Barao into the title scene. The feud still goes on to this day but it'll be a long time before we see these two finally compete for the third time.
5. Jon Jones vs Rashad Evans
This is probably one of the most unique out of any list as this is the only feud on our list were the two were at one time training partners. When Jon Jones made his UFC debut, Rashad Evans was challenging for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship. And throughout Jones' rise in the UFC, Evans lost the title and was engaged in a feud with Rampage Jackson. Just as he was set to face Mauricio Shogun Rua for the title, Evans blew out his knee in a training session. This forced Dana White desperate for a challenger, but immediately saw potential in Jones who had just defeated Ryan Bader and was on 6-1 octagon stretch with his only loss being a disputed disqualification to Matt Hamill. Although Evans was happy for his training partner at the time of the acceptance, it grew to jealousy as Rashad said should he defeat Shogun, he would leave Jackson's submission fighting for good. Eventually that did happen and Evans moved to Imperial Athletics down in Boca Raton Florida (which they now call themselves the blackzillians). The two were originally set to meet at UFC 132 but Jones pulled out of the fight citing a hand injury. Evans in the meantime defeated Tito Ortiz while Jones defeated Rampage Jackson, the two were set to meet each other at UFC 140 but this time Rashad pulled out with a thumb injury and instead faced Lyoto Machida. After Evans defeated Phil Davis at UFC on Fox 2, the two finally faced each other at UFC 145 at the Phillips Arena in Atlanta Georgia - the same arena in which he had knocked out Chuck Liddell in. But Evans could not repeat that performance and although he caught the champion with a clean head kick in the first round, the following rounds were dominated by Jones who used an abundance of elbows to pick up the unanimous decision. We haven't heard too much of this since than, but we know that Jones has gone on record to say that things will never be the same with Rashad Evans.
4. Georges St-Pierre vs Nick Diaz
Nick Diaz is highly regarded as one MMA's biggest villains, where as St-Pierre is looked at as one of MMA's biggest heroes, which set the stage for this classic good guy vs bad guy feud. Georges St-Pierre was clearly dominating the scene in the UFC with wins over Jon Fitch, BJ Penn, Thiago Alves, Dan Hardy, Josh Koscheck, and Diaz's scrap pack team mate Jake Shields. While that happened, Nick Diaz had done the same in the UFC's rival promotion Strikeforce which saw him defeat the likes of KJ Noons, Evangelista Santos, and Paul Daley. The two were originally set to face off at UFC 137, but Diaz failed to show up for any of the press events which forced Dana White to pull him from the main event and replace him with Carlos Condit who was originally scheduled to face BJ Penn that night, while Diaz was bumped down the card and set to face Penn himself. After St-Pierre was pulled from the card due to injury, the fight between Diaz and Penn served as the main event which saw Diaz onslaught Penn with a barrage of punches, then proceded to call out the champion after the fight. The call out caused St-Pierre to do what no opponent had done in the past and caused St-Pierre to flip out and immediately demanded a match with the Stockton bad boy. St-Pierre and Diaz would once again be set to face each other at UFC 143, but St-Pierre was once again injured this time tearing his ACL, in which he would face a lengthy layoff. This led to Diaz battling Carlos Condit for the interim title which saw Carlos visibly out strike Diaz with level changes and mixed attack, giving Condit the right to challenge St-Pierre for the title and leading Diaz to temporarily quit the business. After the champ returned to the octagon and defeated Condit at UFC 154, he immediately called for a match with Diaz and the two were set to fight at UFC 158 in St-Pierre's hometown of Montreal. The match saw St-Pierre dominate Diaz like with mixed striking, superior wrestling, and dominant ground and pound which saw the champ cruise to a unanimous decision win and once again Diaz went into retirement.
3. Ronda Rousey vs Miesha Tate
The first female feud on our list has been arguably one of the most intense rivalries in recent memory as this is what's known to most people as the fight that put Ronda Rousey on the map. Miesha Tate was currently representing Strikeforce as its women's bantamweight championship, and although Ronda Rousey was fighting at 145 pounds, she immediately announced her intentions to drop down and take the title from Tate. The two met for the Strikeforce Women's Bantamweight Championship, and much like all of Rousey's fallen foes before her - Tate quickly succumbed to her trademark armbar at 4:27 in the first round. Ronda Rousey quickly rose to fame after the fight and defeated the Sarah Kaufman in the same fashion she's done to so many before her with a first round armbar. Eventually after Strikeforce was absorbed through the UFC - Rousey became the first woman to compete in the organization by defeated Liz Carmouche via armbar, while Tate had competed (but come short) against Cat Zigano which earned her fight of the night honors. Although the stage was set for Zigano and Rousey to fight for the title, Zigano was forced out with a torn ACL and Tate replaced them in arguably the most heated season of the Ultimate Fighter. The two brought their rivalry over to the octagon and although Tate put up one hell of a fight and even managed to make it to the third round, she once agan succumbed to Ronda's deadly armbar. But Tate found victory in defeat though, as she once again earned fight of the night honors. Since then, both competitors have been on the W side as Ronda defeated Sara McMann via TKO and Tate scored her first UFC win defeating Liz Carmouche by unanimous decision. Time will only tell if these two will face off again, but personally I can't wait if they do.
2. Chuck Liddell vs Tito Ortiz
Highly regarded as perhaps the most intense feud in UFC history, this fight spans over the course of many years. Both Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz were both pioneers in the early days of the UFC's Light Heavyweight Division. Ortiz was the current champion and smashing through competition while Liddell had been coming off wins from names such as Guy Mezger and Vitor Belfort. Although he was the champion, Ortiz did everything he could to avoid fighting Liddell whom he had trained with in the past and failed to do him any justice. Eventually Liddell was awarded an interim title shot in 2003 against Randy Couture who was coming down to Light Heavyweight for the first time in his career where he lost a third round TKO due to poor cardio. Eventually he went on to defeat Tito Ortiz for the championship shortly afterwards which led Joe Silva and Sean Shelby to run out of match making options, and after a brief stint in the Pride organization - Liddell eventually faced Ortiz at UFC 47. Most of the match was a feeling out process until the Iceman started to get loose and Ortiz slapped his head to taunt the Iceman, and even shoved referee Big John McCarthy into Liddell. Straight out of the second round, Liddell came out out on a mission and landed a flurry of punches which forced Tito to drop to the mat and referee Big John McCarthy to stop the fight. Tito was devastated even going so far as to say Liddell's thumb made contact with his eye. Chuck Liddell was set to coach the first season of the Ultimate Fighter against Randy Couture in which the two would rematch while Tito Ortiz defeated Patrick Cote and Vitor Belfort and entered contract disputes that would not see him in the octagon until April 2006. Within his abscene, the iceman defeated Jeremy Horn, Renato Babalu Sobral, and Randy Couture a second time but when Tito returned to the octagon he defeated Forrest Griffin, and Ken Shamrock twice all in 6 months time. The two eventually met at UFC 66 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas in what's still to this day considered the most financially succesful UFC event in history. The fight was more exciting than the first as Liddell's superior takedown defense negated Ortiz from mounting any kind of offense, excluding one time when Ortiz took Liddell down and was able to take his back. But Ortiz was unable to capitalize and lost via TKO in the third round. The feud still continues to this day and even found its own stint on the The Ultimate Fighter, 3 and a half years later. Ortiz eventually drew from the fight signing neck injuries and Liddell faced Rich Franklin in what was ultimately Chuck Liddell's final UFC bout. Currently Ortiz competes in Bellator where Liddell is now enjoying life as the UFC's President of Business relations, they may never meet again but the bad blood is definitely still there!
And the number 1 feud is........
1. Anderson Silva vs Chael Sonnen
Number one should come as no mystery as this has been regarded as the most intense and anticipated feud in UFC history. Chael Sonnen was nearly unknown in 2010 as he entered the octagon against Nate Marquardt, he defeated Dan Miller and Yushin Okami but had never won a noteable championship. When he defeated Marquardt, Sonnen immediately began verbally campaigning against Silva who he claimed was ducking him for the last 4 years and constantly verbally attacked the champion and his black house team mates. The two eventually met at UFC 117 following Silva's circus act like performance at UFC 112 against Demian Maia and viewers saw Chael did the unthinkable as for four rounds, the challenger took to the champion with heavy punches on the feet, and superior wrestling and ground and pound. In the 5th round, Sonnen caught Silva with a clean left hook and once again established position but before two minutes Silva locked up an armbar/triangle combination that forced Sonnen to tap at 3:10 in the final round. Sonnen landed 289 strikes, took Silva down 4 times, and established a total of 17 minutes in top position, it's safe to say that Sonnen did the biggest number on Silva than anybody had in his whole career. Following the fight, Sonnen tested positive for synthetic testosterone with his testosterone levels being one tenth above the state standard. Sonnen was then suspended for year and fined $2,500 by the California State Athletic Commission, and while talks for a rematch were in effect, after the issue had come to light it was cancelled. While Silva had defended his title against Vitor Belfort with the most spectacular knockout in UFC history, Sonnen faced legal troubles by pleading guilty to money laundering charges and found himself fined another 10,000 dollars along with two years probation and although his suspension was cut temporarily he was once again suspended for another six months prior to the convicton. Silva defeated Yushin Okami at UFC 134 and Sonnen finally made his return defeating Brian Stann at UFC 136 by Submission via Arm Triangle Choke. Sonnen was then set to face Mark Munoz for the number one contendership of the Middleweight championship but Munoz withdrew from the fight and was replaced with Michael Bisping who Sonnen narrowly defeated by unanimous decision at UFC on Fox 2. The stage was finally set for the two to once again compete, and although they were orignally set to face each other at a soccer stadium in Brazil, but a scheduling conflict forced the fight to be moved to UFC 148 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Things got intense at the weigh in as Silva hit Sonnen with his shoulder but were seperated by Dana White. When time came for the fight, it panned out pretty much the same way that the first fight did with Sonnen taking Silva down and constantly pressuring the champion with relentless ground and pound, out striking Silva 76-0. In the second round, Sonnen became a little desperate and attempted to throw a spinning back fist which forced him to fall down on his butt and Silva capitalized by hitting a knee to the chest and then swarmed on the challenger, forcing referee Yves Lavigne to stop the fight at 1:55 of the second round. Since then, the two have patched things up. Silva even invited Sonnen to his place in Brazil for a barbeque but Sonnen failed to attend. However when Sonnen announced his retirement earlier this month, he thanked Silva for the opportunities and called Silva his biggest teacher.
Honorable mentions: Georges St-Pierre vs Josh Koscheck, Matt Hughes vs Matt Serra, Nick Diaz vs Paul Daley, Cain Velasquez vs Junior Dos Santos, Frankie Edgar vs Gray Maynard
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