Top 20 Upsets in MMA History: Part Two

Ok here it is, part two of the top 20 upsets in MMA:10-1. Once again, these are in no order and from memory. Let's take a look.

10. Mirko Cro Cop Filipovic vs Kevin Randleman

Mirko Cro Cop was a force to be reckoned with when he and Kevin Randleman met in the PRIDE Heavyweight Grand Prix in 2004.

With nine wins in MMA including two draws with Nobuhiko Takada and Wanderlei Silva, and only one loss to Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Mirko was one of the favorites to win the tournament and a fight with Heavyweight Champ Fedor Emelianenko was on the horizon.

Then the fight with Randleman happened. The two men engaged standing for a bit, then Randleman rushed Mirko into a corner and held on for about a minute until the ref broke them up. With Cro Cop now cautious of Randleman's brute strength and takedown ability, he was less worried of taking a punch than getting slammed on his head.

Randleman faked a shoot attempt that made Cro Cop drop his hands slightly, then after a few seconds it happened.

Kevin throws a hard left hook to Mirko's head that lands square on the jaw, dropping the Croatian to the mat. Randleman jumps on top and finishes the job off by landing a series of punishing hammer fists to Cro Cop's jaw and the ref ends the fight.

Cro Cop was out of the tournament and Randleman went on to face Fedor Emelianenko.

9. Randy Couture vs Tito Ortiz

After coming out of retirement and beating Chuck Liddell for the UFC Interim Light Heavyweight Championship belt, the next step for Randy Couture was to fight the Champion at the time, Tito Ortiz.

Tito, who was twelve years younger than Randy, was the UFC's Light Heavyweight Champion since winning the belt in his fight against Wanderlei Silva in 2000, and successfully defended it five times after that against Yuki Kondo, Evan Tanner, Elvis Sinosic, Vladimir Matyushenko, and Ken Shamrock.

For their entire five round fight, Randy Couture dominated Tito Ortiz primarily in the one spot where Ortiz is strongest, on the ground.

Which is no surprise considering that it is Randy Couture, a four time alternate for the Olympic Greco Roman Wrestling team, but to see the young dominant champ being out done and literally spanked by a forty-year-old man that was retired before his last fight was truly something to behold.

By the way, he won and became the UFC Light Heavyweight Champ.

8. Anderson Silva vs Rich Franklin

It's hard to consider Anderson Silva an underdog or to not pick him as a favorite in a fight these days, but many people did just that when he fought Rich Franklin for the Middleweight title in 2006.

Rich Franklin was on an eight-fight win streak with five of those being in the UFC, and with a total record of 20-1-1, he was definitely the top Middleweight in the world. Enter Anderson Silva.

Anderson was coming into the UFC with a less than stellar list of wins as far as high caliber fighters go. But his destruction of Chris Leben, a guy that many thought was impossible to knock out, in his UFC debut got the attention of everybody quick.

After the fight with Leben, Silva was set to fight Franklin for the Middleweight Title on October 14, 2006. That night in Las Vegas, Anderson Silva announced to the world that he had arrived when he destroyed Rich Franklin in the first round with a beautiful Muay Thai clinch, well-placed knees, kicks, and punches to take the Middleweight belt.

7. Forrest Griffin vs Mauricio "Shogun" Rua

Mauricio "Shogun" Rua was thought by many to be the number one Light Heavyweight fighter in the world before his fight with Forrest Griffin in 2007 at UFC 76: Knockout.

Forrest, on the other hand didn't have a huge list of wins over top competition like his opponent. However, the Ultimate Fighter 1 winner was given the opportunity to fight Rua and actually wanted to do it.

The majority of MMA fans thought that Rua would get right past Griffin en route to the title that was held by Quinton Rampage Jackson, whom Rua beat in PRIDE.

That majority didn't include Randy Couture who, once again, was right about a huge upset. The fight was mostly controlled by Griffin with a very high pace that made both men tired. Rua, who is known as a cardio machine, looked exhausted by the second round and was on his back often.

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