Under Whelming Underdogs: After a Huge Win Over Fedor, History Is Against Werdum

            While the rest of the MMA world seemed to be wondering what happened to Fedor last night, I found myself wondering about the man who had defeated him. Werdum’s triangle choke upset was a thing of beauty and most agree that his win has moved him into the top 5 of the heavyweight division.

            However those who hold some of the greatest upsets in MMA history never seem to be able to regain their past glory. History shows us that an underdog’s win over one of the world’s best doesn’t always translate into success. Here are five fighters who overcame the odds and were never quite the same.

 

5. Forrest Griffin

The Upset: A third round submission over Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at UFC 76.

            Forrest Griffin won The Ultimate Fighter and captured the hearts of fans everywhere with his exciting win over Stephan Bonner in the finale. After the show, he showed mixed results in his next six fights, winning against inferior opponents, losing a controversial decision against Tito Ortiz and was on the losing half of another upset against Keith Jardine.

            Shogun Rua was a former Pride superstar with wins over Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Mark Coleman, Rampage Jackson and Alistair Overeem and was instantly crowned a contender upon entering the UFC

            Forrest came out and dominated Rua, earning him a title shot and establishing himself as one of the best light heavyweights in the worlds.

 

After the Win: Forrest used a superior game plan to out point Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and win the UFC Light Heavyweight Title. However Rashad Evans knocked him out a few months later, losing his belt in the process. He was then completely broken and destroyed by Anderson Silva leaving him on the outside of the title picture. He has since rebounded with a win in a rematch with Ortiz, continuing his up and down career.

 

4. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou

The Upset: A quick knockout of Antonio Rogerio Nogueira at Pride 33.

            Antonio Rogerio Nogueira was on an 8 fight winning streak defeating top names such as Alistair Overeem and Dan Henderson.

            Sokoudjou was a relatively unknown fighter and was seen as a sacrificial lamb for “Little Nog.”            However Sokoudjou came out and scored a knockout victory with a big combination to emerge as a rising star in MMA.

 

After the Win: Sokoudjou was never able to recapture the magic and lost 5 of his next nine fights, including a knockout at the hands of Luis Cane. He is infamously known as the first man that Lyoto Machida was able to finish inside The Octagon.

 

3. Gabriel Gonzaga

The Upset: A first round head kick knockout of Mirko Cro Cop at UFC 70.

            Mirko Cro Cop was one of the most feared fighters on the planet, scoring numerous high kick knockouts over top-level competition and a huge win over Wanderlei Silva.

            Gabriel Gonzaga was a highly regarded Brazilian Ju Jitsu black belt known primarily for his ground game and had lost his only fight against a noteworthy opponent, Fabricio Werdum.

            Most expected another highlight reel knockout for Cro Cop to set up an anticipated fight with Randy Couture. However Gonzaga controlled Mirko on the ground for the better part of round 1 and delivered one a high kick knock out worthy of a Cro Cop montage.

 

After the Win: Gonzaga faltered in his title shot against Couture, gassing and losing in the third round by TKO. He then dropped a rematch to Werdum, won two easy fights against outmatched opponents, before losing two of his next three fights by knockout (to Shane Carwin and Junior dos Santos)

 

2. Matt Serra

The Upset: A Welterweight Championship win over Georges St. Pierre at UFC 69

            Matt “The Terror” Serra was best known as the recipient of Shone Carter’s spinning back fist knockout back at UFC 31, until winning the fourth season of The Ultimate Fighter gave him a legion of fans and a title shot against Georges St. Pierre.

            Meanwhile, GSP had won a string of tough fights to capture his title, with wins over Matt Hughes, BJ Penn, Sean Sherk, and Frank Trigg.

Serra was a 7-1 underdog going into the fight and had reportedly told UFC commentator Mike Goldberg that “I’m gonna shock the world.” Serra did just that, hitting GSP with a few hard shots before earning himself a TKO victory.

 

After the Win: Serra ended up losing the title in a rematch against St. Pierre, and was thoroughly dominated by the French-Canadian fighter. Serra then lost a close decision to hated rival Matt Hughes before righting the ship with a KO victory over Frank Trigg.

 

1. Keith Jardine

The Upset: A decision victory over Chuck Liddell at UFC 76

            Jardine remarkably left me with two choices for this list, but I went with the win over Liddell instead of his TKO of Forrest Griffin, mainly because he fell even farther after this loss.

            Liddell was a fight removed from losing his Light Heavyweight title to Rampage Jackson. Jardine had just embarrassed himself by complaining he needed a tougher opponent and getting knocked out cold by Houston Alexander.

            The fight was supposed to be a warm up for Liddell so he could get himself back into title contention. Instead Jardine used leg kicks and stayed away from Chuck’s powerful striking to win a close decision over “The Iceman.”

 

After the Win: Jardine was knocked out in spectacular fashion by Wanderlei Silva, followed by a close decision win over Brandon Vera. He then lost four straight fights to Rampage Jackson, Thiago Silva, Ryan Bader, and Matt Hamill, with the Silva and Bader losses both coming by knockout. Jardine has recently been released by the UFC.

 

            Will Werdum follow the paths of these other glorious underdogs, or will he create his own path to greatness? Let the debate begin in the comment section below.