MMA: Top Five Rock-Paper-Scissors Matchups

Styles make fights, which you've heard a thousand times. The newer phrase is MMAth.

Just because fighter A beats fighter B, and fighter B beats fighter C, doesn't mean fighter A will beat fighter C.

It's seen time and time again in this sport. With so many dimensions and disciplines, anything can happen in a fight and it truly is a science figuring out how one fighter matches with another.

This article is to show that just because a fighter is facing someone that has beaten his conqueror, doesn't mean the results of that fight should be assumed.

Here are five examples of why MMAth never works.

Stout - Lauzon - Stephens

At UFC 108, Sam Stout scored a career highlight win by out-striking the favored Joe Lauzon. After a competitive first round, Lauzon's weak conditioning began to show and Stout mixed up his striking, confusing Lauzon. Stout dished out much punishment in the last two rounds and scored a unanimous decision.

At Ultimate Fight Night 14, Lauzon was the rising prospect fighting in his second UFC Fight Night main event, this one against Jeremy Stephens. After controlling the first round, Lauzon locked in an arm-bar and forced Stephens to tap. It was an impressive display and Stephens seemed stuck as a lower level lightweight.

At UFC 113, Jeremy Stephens was matched against Sam Stout on the main card of a major pay-per-view. Many would assume that since Stout had beaten Lauzon, and Lauzon had bested Stephens, Stout should be able to handle Stephens. But, that is not how it works and Stephens rocked Stout in the first round, keeping him on the defensive from the beginning.

Stout did make a strong finish to the fight, but it still went to Stephens by split-decision

Cote - Grove - Belcher

At UFC 74, Patrick Cote upset rising TUF winner Kendall Grove with a first-round TKO. It was a powerful hook that stunned Grove and Cote quickly finished him on the ground in a terrific win for Cote.

Before that, at UFC 69, Grove faced a fellow rising prospect in Alan Belcher. Grove controlled much of the fight and late in the second round locked in a D'arce choke to put Belcher out and win the fight. It remains one of Grove's best performances.

So when Belcher met Cote at UFC 113, again some might have felt that since Cote topped Grove, and Grove had a win over Belcher, that Cote should be the winner.

Not the case, as Belcher peppered Cote with body kicks and punches through the first round and stunningly finished him with a slam to his face in the second.

It was another example of MMAth never telling the whole story.

Diaz - Neer - Stevenson

At UFC Fight Night, another rising TUF winner Nate Diaz met veteran Josh Neer in the main event. After a strong start by Neer, Diaz stayed composed and began to get the better of the striking exchanges. Neer seemed bigger and stronger, but Diaz the better boxer and grappler.

After three rounds, Diaz earned a well-deserved split-decision.

Way back at Fight Night 4, Josh Neer met future title challenger Joe Stevenson in a welterweight bout. Neer controlled the fight and was declared the winner by unanimous decision.

So when Diaz met Stevenson at The Ultimate Fighter 9 finale, many figured Diaz to be the favorite. However, it was not Diaz's night and Stevenson out-grappled him for all three rounds and earned a unanimous decision.

Fedor - Nogueira - Werdum

The great Fedor Emelianenko first established himself as the top heavyweight in the world by thrashing Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira for twenty minutes to become the Pride heavyweight champion in 2003.

He repeated the arduous task of besting Nogueira the following year to win Pride's heavyweight tournament and defend his belt. They remain arguably the best performances of Fedor's career.

Two years later, Nogueira met rising fellow Brazlian standout Fabricio Werdum at Pride Critical Countdown Absolute in the second round of Pride's open-weight tournament.

Nogueira easily out-struck Werdum and and proved he was better in all areas than Werdum, earning a unanimous decision and moving on to the next round of the tournament.

Earlier this year, Fedor met Werdum in a main event for Strikeforce. Fedor was a heavy favorite and expected to run through Werdum in much the same fashion as he had handled Nogueira.

But this was not the case and Fedor jumped right into the dangerous guard of Werdum with caution to the wind. In less than a minute into the fight, Werdum locked on a triangle choke and Fedor was eventually left with no option but to tap.

It was one of the biggest upsets of all time.

Marquardt - Maia - Sonnen

At UFC 95, top contenders Demian Maia and Chael Sonnen met in a fight to establish an upcoming title challenger. Early in the fight, Maia tripped Sonnen and fell right into the mount position. Cleverly setting up his triangle from the top, Maia baited Sonnen into reversing him and locked the choke in deep.

Sonnen was forced to tap out in the first round to what was one of the most impressive submissions in MMA history.

Later that year, Maia met Nate Marquardt—another top contender—in an attempt to further pull himself away from the pack. But those efforts were short lived as Marquardt knocked Maia out with the first punch thrown in the fight. The bout was called off at 21 seconds.

Many felt Marquardt deserved his title shot after that win, but the UFC insisted he beat Chael Sonnen before he got there. Many figured this just a fight for Marquardt to stay busy until his big opportunity, but Sonnen has never laid down to anyone.

From the opening bell of their meeting at UFC 109, Sonnen took Marquardt down and punished him there for the extent of three rounds. It was a surprising performance and proved that Chael Sonnen is a threat to anyone he fights. Chael was awarded a unanimous decision.

Chael will look to make another example of these rock-paper-scissors matches when he faces Anderson Silva tonight at UFC 117 in Oakland, Ca.