UFC 146: Dos Santos vs. Mir and the Top 5 Greatest Tales of Vengeance in MMA

UFC 146 on May 26, 2012, will be headlining Junior dos Santos vs. Frank Mir for the UFC Heavyweight Title. This matchup between the iron-swinging Brazilian and the bone-shattering American has an underlying story which has been brooding in all epic martial arts tales since the beginning of time.

This will be a story of the protege looking to defend the honor of his mentor, another tale of the apprentice fighting to avenge the loss of his master.

At one point in time, perhaps even still today, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira was considered the greatest heavyweight jiu-jitsu practitioner in mixed martial arts. Nogueira would allow himself to be slammed on his head, take lethal kicks to the ribs and punch after punch to the grill, while patiently waiting to compress his opponents' carotid arteries with his anaconda like forearms.

This fighting style has made him a hero to his country and has given him the respect to act as leader to such champions as Anderson Silva, Lyoto Machida, and of course Junior dos Santos.

However, lurking from the shadows and across the globe, a new submission specialist was rising up from the ashes. Frank Mir, who can boast submission victories over champions like Brock Lesnar and Tim Sylvia, has been looking to take the crown as the greatest heavyweight submission fighter of all time. Frank Mir took that crown by force when he broke Nogueira's arm with a Kimura at UFC 140.

So before we watch to see if Junior dos Santos can avenge the loss of the man who has mentored him since the beginning of his career, I want to take you back down memory lane to look at my top mixed martial arts tales of vengeance, where gladiators fought to avenge their mentor and friend.

1. Shogun vs. Arona

During a time when Wanderlei Silva was the Pride middleweight champion and the face of the "Chute Boxe Academy," one man from a rival faction known as "Brazilian Top Team," was climbing up the ranks, and outspoken on his desire to defeat Silva.

That man was Ricardo Arona, a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu specialist and Abu Dahbi grappling world champion. Arona got his shot and was successful in 2005 during the semifinals of the Pride Grand Prix tournament. In a final stint of disrespect to Silva, Arona laughed in his face at the end of the round to put an exclamation point on his victory.

The rivalry between the two competitors was accentuated by the bitter rivalry between the teams they represented.

During the quarterfinals of that tournament, two months earlier, Arona had bloodied and defeated Kazushi Sakuraba who was then training with longtime rival Wanderlei Silva at the "Chute Boxe Academy." Arona had also defeated, three years prior, another one of their team's top prospects Murilo "Ninja" Rua.

So in a the brief instance, when it looked like the "Brazilian Top Team" flag would be waving high above the "Chute Boxe" one, the white knight and future UFC light heavyweight champion Mauricio "Shogun" Rua stepped up to the plate.

Shogun, a longtime training partner of Wanderlei Silva and younger brother of Murillo "Ninja" Rua, would go toe to toe against the giant who had both dishonored his family and his team.

For some fighters this would cause tentativeness in their fighting or even a need to play it safe to edge out a decision win; for Shogun it was a reason to throw a tornado kick in the opening round and pull off an "Omoplata" that helped reverse their position on the ground before Shogun would knock out Arona with a vicious ground and pound.

This tale of vengeance not only made Shogun the champion of the greatest tournament in mixed martial arts history. He avenged both his brother and his mentor and received a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu from Nino Schembri, his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu coach whose specialty was the "Omoplata."

2. Nick Diaz vs. Frank Shamrock

There are very few fighters you feel have a larger sense of loyalty to their team and their teacher than Nick Diaz.

His love and respect for Cesar Gracie Jiu-Jitsu has been expressed in post-fight interviews and countdown specials his entire career. So when the Stockton native watched his teacher Cesar Gracie get knocked out with a right cross and some brutal ground and pound, it must have been lurking in his mind to exact revenge on Frank Shamrock someday in his career.

In 2009 Nick Diaz got his chance to wash the Shamrock name off of the Cesar Gracie wall in Frank Shamrock's very own backyard. The fight took place in San Jose, CA, the very same place his teacher was defeated three years prior.

Nick Diaz used his long reach and pride-shattering taunts to finish Shamrock with a T.K.O. in the second round. The highlight of this tale would be that Nick was able to use some of his Jiu-Jitsu to get the edge on this fight.

With a take down and knockdown in the first round, we got to see Diaz establish top control and showcase some of the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu skills fans were looking for Cesar to try and implement on Shamrock.

Though Shamrock had his own brief moments during this fight, the younger and more aggressive Diaz had a different kind of fire burning on this fight, with the added incentive for avenging the man who taught him the skills that has made him a living. Diaz took home the win and the honor back that night.

3. Hughes vs. Newton

The welterweight division in the UFC seems to have an aura around it that engraves in mixed martial arts an everlasting reign for those that can hold its belt.

More recently it has been the Georges St-Pierre era, where it seems nearly impossible for any other welterweight to match his athleticism and game planning.

Before him there was the Matt Hughes era where Hughes would defend his belt five times in a row, a feat that got him inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame. But before Hughes there was another man, Pat Miletich.

Pat Miletich not only has held UFC welterweight gold, he was the first UFC lightweight champion and has used his fighting system to help mold some of the great mixed martial arts fighters of today, his greatest protege being, of course, Matt Hughes.

Pat Miletich won the UFC Welterweight Championship belt in 1998 and successfully defended it four times. He lost the title to Canadian mixed martial arts legend Carlos Newton via choke. Six months later Newton would lose his belt to Matt Hughes, falling victim to one of the greatest knockouts in mixed martial arts history.

The highlight of this fight was when Newton wrapped his legs around Hughes to secure a triangle choke from the guard, Hughes lifted Newton up and carried him across the cage into the fence.

Then in a finish whose drama rivals that of Rocky II, Hughes slammed Newton into the ground, knocking himself out in the process. While the referee was attending to Newton, Hughes regained his composure to realize he had finished the fight and thus started his incredible reign as the UFC welterweight champion.

It would be forever iconic that Hughes would power out of a choke to win the belt from the man who powered a choke to take the belt from his friend.

4. Fedor vs. Cro Cop

Imagine sitting on the sideline watching your little brother—the kid who would follow you to Sambo practice, who you made fetch a cold glass of water when you were thirsty at night—get kicked in the side of the head and punched in the face after he had fallen flat on the ground.

Tommy Lee had to watch Dae Han Park do it to his brother in the film "Best of the Best," and Fedor Emelianenko had to watch Mirko Cro Cop do it to his brother in real life at "Pride Final Conflict 2004."

It took a little over one year for Fedor Emelianenko to come face to face in the ring with his brother's assailant.

Though the legacy of both men and the Pride heavyweight belt was on the line, one couldn't help but believe part of the motivation behind Fedor in this fight would be to bring closure to the conflict that ensued since Cro Cop handed his younger brother Aleksander his first loss.

Mirko Cro Cop has the most lethal head kick in mixed martial arts history. Once they fall victim to its ferocious tenacity, Cro Cop's left high kick often leaves the sport's greatest fighters a shell of their former selves.

Fighters like Igor Vovchanchyn and Wanderlei Silva both fell victim to the same kick that took out Fedor's younger brother and both struggled to be the same vicious warriors they were prior to the hit. So it would be a testament and highlight in the fight when Fedor caught one of Cro Cop's kicks to the head and pushed him down with it into to the ropes.

Their fight went the distance and after 20 minutes of a grueling standup battle and meat-slabbing ground and pound from the Russian, Fedor avenged his brother's loss and defended his title against the Croatian sensation at the peak of his career.

Frank Shamrock vs. Tito Ortiz

A one man army in Tito Ortiz once faced an entire Den of Lions, whose ring leader was known as the world's most dangerous man.

In a series of fights that helped make the former UFC light heavyweight champ notorious and coined the "Huntington Beach Bad Boy," Tito Ortiz was picking apart one of the most respected mixed martial arts teams in its day by viciously beating fighters Guy Mezger, Jerry Bohlander and by repeatedly giving Ken Shamrock the finger.

Even though this drama would be the foundation that would later bring on a trilogy of Tito Ortiz vs. Ken Shamrock main events, it would be another Shamrock that would come to defend the submission grappling style of their day.

Though Frank Shamrock was no longer a member of the Lion's Den at this point in his career, one can't help but feel the relationships he developed with former training partners Guy Mezger and Jerry Bohlander, not to mention being the foster brother of Ken Shamrock, gave him extra incentive to power through the anguish of this championship fight.

His victory over Ortiz, which is arguably one of the most exciting fights in all of UFC history, came through a last minute comeback win with vicious elbows and hammer fists.

This would be Frank Shamrock's last fight in the UFC, and though perhaps unintentional, his victory over Ortiz helped lift the stink that Tito was setting on Ken and the Lion's Den, for at least a little while.