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Jeff WagenheimESPN
There’s nothing quite like the edgy anticipation of that first collision. Maybe it’s an invulnerable champion defending the belt against an unbeaten up-and-comer, or a pair of top-rung contenders who’ve been eyeing each other as each ascended the ladder meeting at the summit.
Whatever confrontational crossroads gets the juices flowing, everyone wonders who’ll stand tall and who’ll fall. While some fights are one-and-done once that initial test of wills and skills provides an answer, there are also those clashes that seem like the beginning of something bigger. These fights feel like the early evening’s first waltz with the band only starting to get warmed up.
That’s when we demand a rematch.
The UFC’s history is littered with two- and three-fight series, many of which have championship belts on the line in one or all of the fights. Saturday’s UFC 227 card will add to that list, as the top two fights on the marquee are title-fight rematches.
The main event between bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw and Cody Garbrandt runs back last November’s UFC 217 slugfest in which Dillashaw overcame an early knockdown to violently take out Garbrandt in the second round and take away his belt. This rematch has the added ingredient of the fighters being embittered former training partners, so Dillashaw versus Garbrandt II might very well be Dillashaw vs. Garbrandt MMXVIII if you count all of their wars in the Team Alpha Male gym.
The other rematch this weekend is less acrimonious and, frankly, a lot less breathlessly anticipated. There was a good measure of curiosity when Demetrious Johnson first put his flyweight belt on the line against Henry Cejudo back in 2016. “Mighty Mouse” was riding a 10-fight unbeaten run and already had successfully defended his 125-pound strap seven times. But Cejudo, as a 2008 Olympic gold medalist wrestler, brought an elite resume the likes of which had not previously been in the cage with the champ. It didn’t matter on that night, as Johnson punched and kneed his way to victory in just over two minutes in the co-main event of UFC 197. Cejudo returns on Saturday with a more well-rounded game and more high hopes.
Not all rematches are created equally, and each has its own tale to tell. There are dozens of examples, but five fights in particular highlight the types of results we may (or may not) see at UFC 227 — including fights featuring both of this weekend’s defending champs:
Reversal of fortune
Randy Couture vs. Chuck Liddell II (April 16, 2005, UFC 52)
Chuck Liddell was a promoter’s dream when he first met Randy Couture in 2003. “The Iceman” had won 10 fights in a row, and that run of success combined with his fearsomely unique look — a Fu Manchu moustache and a Mohawk hairdo — made him a fan favorite who appeared to be on the verge of unseating Tito Ortiz as light heavyweight champion. But with Ortiz mired in a contract dispute, the UFC opted to instead put Liddell in an interim title fight against Couture, a two-time heavyweight champion. With a three-round beatdown and TKO, Couture postponed Liddell’s coronation.
Nearly two years later, Liddell got another shot at “The Natural”. This time they would be opponents in both the cage and the training gym, as the UFC matched them up to coach two teams of young hopefuls on a brand new reality TV show called “The Ultimate Fighter.” Couture was the 205-pound champion until barely two minutes into their rematch, when Liddell clipped him with a left-hand counter and followed with a dizzying flurry to claim the title.
Thus began the Chuck Liddell Era. In reality it had kind of begun already, even without the belt, as this knockout of Couture was Liddell’s third straight KO, with four more in a row to come — including another punch-out of Couture. Liddell’s reign of terror finally ended with a KO loss to Quinton “Rampage” Jackson… which was also a rematch.
Notable: This might not have even been the best rematch of UFC 52, as a couple of fights prior to the main event, welterweight champ Matt Hughes made one of the great comebacks ever by escaping a rear-naked choke and then trapping Frank Trigg in the same submission hold. (Hughes will get his due down a little later on in a different rematch.)
Another to remember: Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen II (July 7, 2012, UFC 148 ). Technically this wasn’t a reversal of fortune, because Silva won the first meeting, too. But he’d been dominated for four-plus rounds before pulling a rabbit out of a hat with a triangle armbar with less than two minutes to go to save him and his belt the first time around. The second fight started much like the first, with Sonnen having his way both on the feet (surprisingly) and on the mat (unsurprisingly), but then he lost his balance throwing a wild, ill-advised strike in Round 2 and “The Spider” put him away to answer any lingering questions.
Changing of the guard
Matt Hughes vs. Georges St-Pierre II (Nov. 18, 2006, UFC 65)
Georges St-Pierre was a meteor soaring towards the top of the sport when he first flew into the airspace of Matt Hughes in 2004. GSP was unbeaten and dominant, which is why the UFC booked him for a fight for the vacant welterweight title. At that point, St-Pierre had just seven pro fights, while Hughes had 40 and was a former champion. This was a whole different animal from what St-Pierre had ever seen, and it showed when Hughes clamped on an armbar in the final seconds of the first round and elicited the tapout at 4:59.
When they met again two years later, St-Pierre was on a five-fight winning streak and looked ready to take over as king of the 170-pound hill — and that’s just what he did. GSP was in control the whole way, putting Hughes in survival mode late in the first round. The champ made it to Round 2, but St-Pierre quickly floored him with a head kick and finished the job.
GSP dropped the belt to Matt Serra four months later in the biggest upset in UFC history, but he got right back up and took out both Matts — in Hughes III, then Serra II — to start a reign that lasted through nine title defenses over five years before he stepped away from the sport. When St-Pierre returned from a four-year hiatus last November to claim the middleweight belt, he earned widespread acclaim as MMA’s greatest of all time. And it all began with that second go at Matt Hughes.
Notable: Hughes might be the UFC’s king of rematches. His three title-fight dances with GSP aside, he also had three fiery fights with BJ Penn, two for the belt. He had two meetings with Frank Trigg, the second producing one of the great comebacks in MMA history (see above). He twice met journeyman Dennis Hallman and lost both times via submission within 20 seconds. Hughes first became champion in 2001 with a KO of Carlos Newton, and a year later he gave Newton another lesson in the laws of gravity in a second KO win. His first pro fight, in 1998, was a 16-second KO of someone named Erick Snyder, and the next year Hughes beat him up again.
Another to remember: Brock Lesnar vs. Frank Mir II (July 11, 2009, UFC 100). Mir had spoiled Lesnar’s UFC debut in 2008 and continued to remind the big guy of that. Lesnar shut his mouth by punching it, blanketing Mir on the canvas and pummeling him.
Begging for more
Gray Maynard vs. Frankie Edgar II (Jan. 1, 2011, UFC 125)
There was only one reason Frankie Edgar got a rematch with Gray Maynard, and that reason was made of brass and leather and was proudly worn around the waist. Edgar had not fared well in their first meeting, in April 2008, as “The Bully” lived up to his nickname by using his size and strength to beat up the previously unbeaten Edgar in a fight that was not close.
Why do it again? Because nearly three years later, Edgar was lightweight champion and Maynard, still undefeated, was the No. 1 contender. Early on, it appeared that Maynard’s crowning moment was imminent as he knocked down Edgar barely a minute into the fight. As Edgar scrambled to get his bearings, Maynard floored him two more times in a thoroughly dominant opening round that appeared destined for stoppage. All three judges scored the round 10-8 for Maynard, and they were being kind to Edgar.
From that point on, however, Edgar took over the fight, somehow. One judge scored all four remaining rounds in his favor, while one gave him three rounds. Merely by surviving, the champ had come out of the night a winner, though the scorecard tally officially made the bout a draw. That made a trilogy fight necessary, and nine months later in Edgar vs. Maynard III, the champ was almost finished again in Round 1. This time around, Edgar flipped the script; not only did he survive, but got a finish of his own and handed Maynard his first career loss with a fourth-round KO.
Notable: Edgar took a pummeling in Round 1 of both the second and third meetings. Maynard landed 25 significant strikes to Edgar’s 10 in the first rematch, and the edge was 24-11 in the trilogy bout. But these fights took their toll on both men. Edgar lost his belt in his next fight after knocking out Maynard, and since then he has lost three more title fights. At last he’s still in the picture, though. Maynard bounced back from the KO loss with a victory but then dropped four in a row, falling out of the top 10.
Another to remember: Sam Stout vs. Spencer Fisher (June 12, 2007, UFC Fight Night) Who? Versus who? Neither of these guys was a top lightweight contender, but after this rematch recreated the fire and fury of their first meeting a year earlier — with a different winner — a trilogy bout seemed inevitable. It didn’t come for five years, but it was worth the wait. (Including this matchup, we have a reminder that it’s not just the big names and shiny belts that produce magic in MMA rematches.)
More of the same
Chris Weidman vs. Anderson Silva II (Dec. 28, 2013, UFC 168)
Anderson Silva had been making it look easy through his 17-fight winning streak and nearly seven-year reign as UFC middleweight champion. He’d been making it look so easy that when he clowned his way through Round 1 of his first meeting with Chris Weidman in July 2013, it seemed to be just another day at the big-top office for “The Spider,” except for one thing — the undefeated Weidman did not seem fazed by the antics. He just kept going after the brilliant Brazilian, and when Silva feigned being wobbled by a missed punch early in Round 2, Weidman didn’t hesitate to fire off another, then another, then another. And finally he connected, dropping the champ and blowing the roof off MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Was this just a lucky shot? Was it a sour byproduct of the antics? Or had Silva’s vaunted reflexes lost something off their fastball? Only a rematch would reveal the truth, and when Weidman and Silva stepped back inside the cage six months later, the new champ showed himself to be the better man. The fight ended with a fluke injury as Silva grotesquely broke his leg while throwing a kick, but by that point Weidman was firmly in control, beating up Silva both on the feet and on the mat. This rematch turned out to be an affirmation that what everyone had seen the first time was not a mirage.
Notable: Weidman, despite winning the first meeting via stoppage, entered the rematch as a nearly 2-1 underdog — same odds as first time.
Another to remember: TJ Dillashaw vs. Renan Barao II (July 25, 2015, UFC on Fox). Dillashaw had clipped Barao with a punch in the first round of their initial meeting, in May 2014, and the Brazilian had never been the same the rest of the way. The fifth-round TKO was a stunning result, since Barao was on a 33-fight unbeaten run going back nine years. Could Dillashaw do it again? He sure could, dominating the rematch and getting the TKO this time in Round 4.
Nothing on the line but everything
Nate Diaz vs. Conor McGregor II (Aug. 20, 2016, UFC 202)
The first meeting was not even supposed to happen. It was a late-replacement bout at UFC 196, booked after Conor McGregor’s scheduled challenge of Rafael dos Anjos for the lightweight belt had to be canceled because the champ was injured in training. The UFC called on Nate Diaz to save a lucrative McGregor main event, and because Diaz had only 11 days’ notice, the nontitle fight was made at welterweight — a division where Diaz had struggled and McGregor had never fought. Yet despite there being no belt on the line, the fight became the biggest pay-per-view in UFC history, with a buy rate reported at 1.317 million.
When Diaz shocked McGregor with a second-round rear-naked choke, there was a new dynamic in the sport. Everyone knew there would be a rematch, and the stakes would be far different from the stakes in all of the big rematches that had come before. There would be no title belt up for grabs, no No. 1 contender spot to be had. The second meeting — inexplicably also at welterweight — would be all about backing up words. McGregor had always talked a good game and got away with it because his fists spoke as forcefully as his mouth. But a second loss to Diaz, especially a finish, surely would have impaired the Irishman’s star power.
As it turned out, the rematch surpassed its predecessor with 1.6 million PPV buys and McGregor outdid himself as well — knocking down Diaz several times and mostly keeping the fight at range, where he had an edge. Diaz got in his shots, enough for one judge to score the bout a draw, but the other two scorecards had McGregor ahead, making him a winner by majority decision. The UFC’s cash cow would live to fight another day. And talk. And deposit checks.
Notable: McGregor has headlined four of the five biggest-selling pay-per-view events in UFC history, and the top two were non-title fights. Belts? Who needs belts? The Diaz bouts aside, though, the other best sellers were title bouts: vs. lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205 in November 2016, and vs. featherweight titlist Jose Aldo at UFC 194 in December 2015.
Another to remember: Demetrious Johnson vs. Joseph Benavidez (Dec. 13, 2013, UFC on Fox) OK, yes, the flyweight belt was on the line, but this fight was about something bigger: Making “Mighty Mouse” matter. He had become the UFC’s first (and still only) 125-pound champ via a 2012 split-decision win over Benavidez and had yet to make an impact with fans. Boy, did he make an impact in this rematch. His one-punch KO in the first round helped propel Johnson toward the No. 1 pound-for-pound spot he still occupies today.