The Top 10 (or 11) "Got Your Number" Feuds In MMA

It's a fairly common phrase thrown around on the message board and in articles, to say that one fighter "has his number" of another. Obviously this can be the case, but it's overused.

I decided to do a little digging to see who people think has someone's number, and who actually does. Along the way, we'll try to play a little MMA "Six Degrees of Separation."

1) Wanderlei Silva > Quinton Jackson

Obviously the Muay Thai clinch was a big weakness of Jackson's, as evidenced by his two losses to Silva (and Chuteboxe teammate Shogun Rua), but Jackson seems to have improved his game.

Time will tell if The Axe Murderer will get another shot at Rampage, but two losses to the same man, to the same technique says that Wandy most likely does indeed have Quinton's number.

2) Quinton Jackson > Chuck Liddell

Two losses in a row might indicate this, but in my opinion one more fight is needed to be definite. The second meeting was too short and too inconclusive to say for sure.

I'm not saying that it doesn't count as a win, but it doesn't prove much. This is one of the most-used examples of someone having someone's number, but I think a third fight would tell the tale conclusively.

For a more in-depth breakdown on why I think this fight should and will happen, check out my "Champions" article here at Bleacher Report.

3) Chuck Liddell >  Tito Ortiz

This is definitely a case of what we are looking for. Ortiz trained with Liddell before they were ever matched up and was definitely trying to put off being matched up with the Iceman as long as possible.

When the two finally did meet, Ortiz talked at length about choosing to stand with Liddell, but in the end we found out why. He simply could not come close to taking Liddell down. It appeared that Ortiz was well aware of the power and became gun-shy, shooting for takedowns from too far outside and never fully committing.

In their second fight he fared better on the feet, but once again his shot was stuffed badly and he eventually fell to the power shots of Liddell, who is a nightmare for a fighter who is primarily a wrestler.

4) Tito Ortiz > Ken Shamrock

Going 3-0 in the series, it is difficult to argue with the results. Whether or not Shamrock is deteriorated, Ortiz originally bested him in 2002 when he was not in the shape he is today.

All three times he has been finished, and though he protested the stoppage in the second fight (when does Shamrock not protest a stoppage?), Ortiz willingly climbed back in the cage with him and produced the same result, taking only a minute longer.

I think it's safe to say that Shamrock would continue fighting Ortiz as many times as any promotion would let him, but his lack of skills from his back would seem to keep him from winning any of them.

5) Anderson Silva > Rich Franklin

It's rare that a champion who has looked so dominant was handled so thoroughly by a challenger, but Franklin had close to zero effective offense both times he's faced the Spider.

I'm not going to bash Franklin's game planning, but in the first fight he apparently decided that the clinch would be his "sweet spot" against one of the founding members of the Muay Thai Dream Team, with disastrous results. In the second fight, he seemingly did his pre-fight homework, but was unable to get Silva to the ground long enough to do anything effectively and looked scared to death anytime Silva came close to locking the clinch (who wouldn't?).

Franklin's questionable chin + Silva's pinpoint accuracy = a positive result for our survey.

6) Matt Hughes > Frank Trigg

Both times Matt Hughes faced the outspoken wrestler he finished him by a rear naked choke. After the first fight, Trigg still managed to find a way to talk smack about Hughes' performance, so Matt simply gave him another shot.

Despite landing a low blow that went unnoticed by the referee and actually (according to both Hughes and Trigg) knocking Hughes unconscious, Hughes somehow was awakened by continued punches and proceeded to rise from the ashes, scoop up Trigg, and run him halfway across the cage for the slam and the submission.

I'm not a huge fan of internet terminology, but it's hard to call that anything but pure ownage.

7) Dennis Hallman > Matt Hughes

Everyone has their kryptonite. Ironically for Hughes, it came in the form of Dennis "Superman" Hallman, who submitted Hughes in both 1998 and 2000, a combined total of 37 seconds.

Hallman was actually brought into the UFC to face Hughes as a contender, but his path to the title was cut short by none other than Frank Trigg who actually has two wins over Hallman...oh the irony.

8) Georges St. Pierre > Matt Hughes

When a guy has a record of 42-6, and two of those losses come from the same man, you'd think that there's a good chance he has his number (ala Hallman). But after two decimations at the hands of GSP, people seem to forget that Hughes actually won by submission in their first bout.

I think this is more of a case of GSP having everyone's number in the WW division. I also saw some people trying to claim that Matt Serra had St. Pierre's number, but after the rematch, doesn't that sound a little silly?

9) Jeremy Horn > Chael Sonnen

If at first you don't succeed, try try again. Unless you're Chael Sonnen going against Jeremy Horn apparently.

Horn stopped Sonnen twice in 2004 by TKO (cut) and again by submission in two different small promotions. The two met again in 2006, this time in the UFC, but the result was no different: Horn won by submission again.

None of the fights made it past the second round. In watching Sonnen's recent bout against WEC middleweight champ Paulo Filho, one wonders if Sonnen just doesn't know how to keep that arm tucked in...

10) Mirko Cro Cop > Josh Barnett

These two top-10 fighters actually managed to square off against one another every year for three years running in Pride. When they first met in 2004 in Barnett's Pride Debut, the result was anticlimactic as the "Babyfaced Assassin" injured his shoulder early on in the bout and tapped in less than a minute as soon as the two hit the ground.

They rematched in 2005 once Barnett was healthy, and the two went to an entertaining, if surprising decision finish, where Cro Cop got the judges nod.

The trilogy was completed in 2006 when they met in the finals of the Open Weight Grand Prix. Both looked unstoppable, but Barnett finished a 15-minute war with Minotauro Nogueira while Mirko decimated Wanderlei Silva in less than six minutes—clearly the fresher of the two.

In the midst of some ground and pound, Barnett took a punch to the eye and, unable to see his opponent, tapped out rather than (in his own words)" sit there and get pounded while the ref stands there like a douche and records it on his ref cam."

There were a few flukey happenings in this series, but I'd have to say that Mirko just knows what it takes to beat Barnett.

11) Fedor Emelianenko > Antonio Rodrigo Nogueria

It was suggested that I add this rivalry, and I figured it would be a good idea since it's a great example of what I'm talking about in this article.

Coming into their initial meeting, Fedor defeated Semmy Schilt and Heath Herring, surprising quite a few people at the time. However, Nogueira also defeated both of them, along with generally dominating the heavyweight scene in Pride. He was seen as nearly unstoppable, and Fedor was a clear underdog.

Very quickly it became apparent that Minotauro could not take Fedor down and began to take punishment on the feet. Fedor, however, took him down at will and landed heavy shots from the guard.

As the minutes ticked away, Nog didn't seem to have any answers for Fedor, who was slipping out of his submissions faster than he could apply them and throwing murderous ground and pound shots from the guard. As the fight went on he began to look more and more desperate until the time expired and the title went to Emelianenko.

A year later, their second meeting looked to be more of the same, but was difficult to judge at the time because it was declared a No Contest after only a few minutes as Fedor accidentally received a deep cut on his head when trying to pass Noguiera's guard.

In a rare display of poor sportsmanship (or as close as Nog has ever come), Nogueira and his corner argued that it should be a TKO because Fedor caused the cut himself. Had he known what was coming in the third fight he might have argued harder for that win.

After a few months, the match was rescheduled and once again the two heavyweight titans met in the ring. Nogueira was sporting improved boxing and conditioning, he said.

Fedor said little, but it was obvious that he had done his homework as he became even more efficient in his strategy. His hands were low, yet his superior head movement kept him out of danger while his unorthodox striking peppered Nog with power shots at every turn.

It was in this fight that Fedor pioneered the "sling and run" style recently used by Cung Le against Frank Shamrock.

Every time the two would clinch, Fedor would execute a takedown, and Nog appeared to move along, hoping to get a shot at executing his ground game. Fedor rarely bothered to go to the ground with him, simply throwing him to the mat and forcing him to stand again.

When they were on the ground, more preemptive submission defense and hard punches were the order of the day. Sure enough, Nog survived the fight, but came out on the losing end of another decision.

Honorable Mention: Travis Fulton > Dan Wheatley

In the record of a fighter like Travis "Ironman" Fulton who has nearly 250 professional bouts, you're bound to find some repeated names. But poor Dan Wheatley has gone up against Fulton five times and has been KO'd four times.

Apparently Fulton was getting bored because one of the five wins was by submission as well. Given that Wheatley's record is 2-23, it's probably not worth speculating if Fulton actually has his number, but five losses to the same man just had to make the list.