The comeback.
Rocky Balboa made a career out of it. Think of every Rocky movie and there's not one fight where he isn't losing before he roars back to win.
The UFC even centered an entire season of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) on fighters who had been cut by the promotion giving it one last go.
Every fight fan loves a good comeback. It displays a certain degree of toughness and grit that only the best fighters possess. Someone can be the most technically skilled athlete in the world but if they wilt under pressure,
5. Shane Carwin vs. Brock Lesnar - UFC 116: Lesnar vs. Carwin
Combat sports, boxing in particular, owes much of its popularity to the heavyweight division. Sure, lighter weight fighters like Georges St. Pierre and Manny Pacquiao are the current pay-per-view kings but the big boys had a stranglehold for decades.
So when Brock Lesnar came back from a near-fatal ailment to defend his title against the heavy-handed Shane Carwin, fans were naturally excited.
If diverticulitis hadn't made Lesnar look human, "The Engineer" sure did. After denying the champ a few takedown attempts, the challenger quickly put him on his back and unleashed a beating the likes of which is rarely seen in the UFC.
Punch after punch smashed against Lesnar, ripping his flesh apart in the process. Bloodied up, the former WWE superstar continued to defend making sure to keep an open ear to the referee's warnings of stopping the fight.
For nearly the entire round, Carwin pummeled his opponent but couldn't make the big man quit.
When the second stanza started, you could tell the challenger was exhausted. An inadvertant display of rope-a-dope had swung Lesnar's way and a takedown was followed by an arm-triangle that forced "The Engineer" to tap.
4. Mirko Filipovic vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira - Pride FC: Final Conflict 2003
"Cro Cop" had found some success as a K-1 kickboxer before entering Pride FC. Once there, his left high kick became that of legend.
He nearly decapitated Igor Vovchanchyn and issued a grave warning to any masked luchadores who were entertaining the thought of competing in MMA when he removed Dos Caras Jr. from consciouness.
When heavyweight kingpin Fedor Emelianenko couldn't compete at Pride's annual year-end show, the former champ Nogueira was booked against the Croatian to declare an interim champion.
Filipovic fought with a brilliant gameplan and even more amazing execution. He avoided all of "Big Nog's" takedown attempts all the while peppering him with punches and kicks.
In the waning seconds of the opening round, "Cro Cop" even landed the infamous left high kick but Nogueira's granite chin withstood the blast. The Brazilian fell to the mat but still remained conscious.
Unfortunately for the Croatian, the crux of his gameplan -- avoid the takedown -- fell apart when the Brazilain Jiu-Jitsu expert was able to get the kickboxer to the mat early into the second.
From there, he quickly slid into full mount and snatched an arm after "Cro Cop" attempted to buck him off.
An extension of the limb and a crank backwards earned a submission win for the Brazilian and a place on the list.
3. Tito Ortiz vs. Frank Shamrock - UFC 22: Only One Can be Champion
Frank Shamrock was the sport's original dominant champion. He won the belt in 16 seconds and his first defense lasted 22 seconds. In that fight, he slammed Igor Zinoviev out of consciousness and into retirement.
By the time Tito Ortiz came calling, "Legend" had three defenses under his belt. For his part, "The Huntington Beach Bad Boy" had two brutal wins over former teammates of Shamrock's, Guy Mezger and Jerry Bohlander.
Ortiz had almost perfected the style he would become famous for: lightning fast takedowns followed by a seemingly unending barrage of punches and elbow from the top.
He pummeled the champion for the better part of four rounds but in those later rounds is when true champions shine. The challenger's gas tank was nearly running on empty at that point and Shamrock was able to slip out from underneath him and get to his feet.
Ortiz was desperate to keep the fight on the ground and latched onto "Legend's" leg. From there, the champ delivered hammer strike after hammer strike, forcing the California native to tap.
2. Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen - UFC 117: Silva vs. Sonnen
There should have been no way that Chael Sonnen could beat Anderson Silva.
"The Spider" had a stranglehold on the middleweight division and barring retirement or death, there was nothing to stop it.
Sonnen had re-invented himself as a brash, arrogant grinding wrestler with a penchant for trash talk. He insulted Silva's in-cage performance, his country, and his nationality.
Everyone was waiting for the shellacking the Brazilian would hand out. Instead, as I wrote in a previous piece, we got this:
Still maintaining his presence in the pocket, Sonnen doesn't seem to fear Silva's striking at all. And then it happens. The wrestler tags the muay thai expert across the jaw and staggers him. The crowd, Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg, EVERYONE watching the fight just about loses their mind.
Sonnen controlled the bout all the way into the final round. He had employed his grinding and punishing wrestling style perfectly and leading into the final five minutes of the fight, it appeared that a new middleweight champion would be crowned.
Silva dug deep, probably deeper than he ever had to before in his career, and found what he needed to win. He brushed aside the pain from the near-countless strikes Sonnen had wrecked his body with, and slapped a triangle choke on the American.
Forcing his challenger to tap, Silva retained the title and submitted his way into history.
1. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Bob Sapp - Pride FC/K-1: Shockwave 2002
Before he became somewhat of a parody of himself, Bob Sapp was something to be feared.
He was a mountain of a man with muscles on top of other muscles. He was an intimidating creature who had destroyed his first two opponent with relative ease.
Against Noguiera, it was the Brazilian's technique against Sapp's brute force.
Both displayed their attributes in stunning fashion.
"Big Nog" immediately shot in on Sapp and "The Beast" responded with a powerbomb. An honest to goodness powerbomb.
Sapp lifted the Brazilian in the air, completely upside down, and slammed him down onto the mat. He proceeded to batter Nogueira with punches. Relentlessly, the American swung his giant arms and slammed his enormous fists into his opponent's head.
"Big Nog's" durability once again came into play and he was able to withstand the punishment Sapp doled out. Exhausted, "The Beast's" brute strength began to wane when Nogueira's technique never did.
A textbook armbar sealed the American's fate and etched this fight into comeback history.
There you have it, folks. Feel free to discuss your own experiences with the fights mentioned or call me an idiot for not including GSP/Penn I or Smith/Sell.
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