The 25 Most One-Sided Beatdowns in UFC History

MMA is a hell of a sport.

In the early days of the sport, fans watched MMA in the hopes of seeing someone bludgeoned.

Fast forwarding to modern day, MMA fans seem to have a much more comprehensive appreciation for the sport. They cheer for a knockout, but they also cheer when a fighter retains guard, or hits a sweep.

It's a beautiful thing.

That being said, who among us doesn't still love to watch a fight where one fighter straight up beats the crap of his opponent?

There's something entertaining about being able to say, "Wow. That guy might actually die."

I'm exaggerating a bit.

When we, the fans, watch a fight we surely don't want to see another fighter die. But, it is interesting to see just how much punishment the human body can take.

With that philosophy in mind, let's take a look at the most one-sided beatdowns in UFC history.

The fights on the list are in no particular order.

Honorable Mentions

Randy Couture vs James Toney: Technically, this might be the most one-sided beatdown in UFC history. James Toney landed no punches, or offense of any kind. It was really just embarrassing to watch. I didn't include it on the list because this was more of a freak show fight than anything.

Chael Sonnen vs Anderson Silva: Chael Sonnen stepped into the Octagon and dominated arguably the greatest MMA fighter ever for four and a half rounds. It was one of the most dominant performances I've seen. Unfortunately, it can't really be considered a one-sided fight because Silva ended up submitting Sonnen.

Cain Velasquez vs Brock Lesnar: If it weren't for the two takedowns Brock pulled off, this would be on the list. Cain had some trouble with Brock's wrestling in the early going of the first round, but after that Velasquez managed a takedown of his own and proceeded to embarrass Brock on his feet. The end result of this fight was Brock curled up in a ball on the canvas. It kind of looked like he was crying.

Anthony Johnson vs Tommy Speer

The picture for this one is worth a thousand words.

On the left, you can see Anthony Johnson celebrating his victory.

On the right, you can see Tommy Speer laying in a heap, unconscious.

Johnson landed a punch early in the round that rocked Speer. Smelling blood, Johnson went in for the kill.

What followed was one of the most devastating series of strikes in UFC history.

Houston Alexander vs Keith Jardine

Everyone knows this by now: Keith Jardine does not do well when his opponents put a lot of pressure on him right out of the gate.

Houston Alexander was the first fighter to discover this.

This was Houston's first fight in the UFC and he made a big impact right out of the gate.

Jardine may have done himself a disservice by underestimating the newcomer.

Alexander rocked Keith with some big punches and stayed on him, landing shot after shot, ultimately ending the fight in violent fashion.

Jon Jones vs Matt Hamill

Hehe, that picture gets me every time.

This fight occurred when Jon Jones was still considered an up-and-comer and was considered by many to be over-hyped.

Matt Hamill was supposed to be the guy to finally expose the hype.

In case you didn't glean this from the picture, things didn't quite turn out in that fashion.

Jon surprised many by being able to take Hamill down effortlessly, and once he got him there he put on a ground and pound clinic.

Jones was disqualified in this fight for landing illegal elbows on Hamill from the mounted position, but everyone knew who the real winner was.

In Jon's defense, it's pretty widely accepted that 12-6 elbows should be legal in the UFC.

Randy Couture vs Tito Ortiz

Not as funny as the Jon Jones picture, but still good.

Randy Couture won every round of this fight and at one point even spanked Tito Ortiz.

Won every round.

Spanked his opponent.

Doesn't get much more one-sided than that.

Georges St. Pierre vs Jason Miller

After this fight, no one can doubt the heart of Jason "Mayhem" Miller.

There's no doubt that he gave it his all in this fight.

Unfortunately for him, GSP was able to do what he does to so many fighters: outclass them.

Mayhem just didn't have the tools to compete with GSP's arsenal and it showed as he took a brutal three round beating.

BJ Penn vs Diego Sanchez

It was embarrassing how little offense Diego Sanchez mustered in this fight.

Usually, I would be more respectful of a fighter's performance than to call it embarrassing.

But, come on. Did you see him screaming "Yes!" on his way to the cage?

It looked ridiculous enough on it's own, but to then lose the fight so decisively... that's embarrassing.

Penn almost knocked Diego out in the first round with some big uppercuts, followed up with punches. After that he outclassed Sanchez until the fifth round when he landed a big head kick. The kick opened up a huge cut on Diego's head and the fight was stopped.

Don Frye vs Amaury Bitetti

An oldie but a goodie.

Don Frye uses his superior wrestling to sap all of Amaury's energy and then dominates from top position.

The victory is made all the more dominant by Don Frye's mustache.

How is it made more dominant by the mustache?

No one really knows. The mustache works in mysterious ways.

Shane Carwin vs Frank Mir

Frank Mir learned a valuable lesson for fighters everywhere at UFC 111.

You do not clinch with Shane Carwin.

Mir wanted to get Carwin to the ground and tried to use the clinch to do so.

Carwin almost immediately turned Mir around and proceeded to land BIG uppercuts.

Those shots rocked Mir and from there Carwin swarmed.

The ending to this fight was actually scary. The referee easily could have stopped it three or four punches before he did. With the power that Carwin has in his hands, you don't want to eat any more punches than need be.

Tank Abbott vs John Matua

The legendary Tank Abbott made his professional debut at UFC 6, knocking out John Matua in 18 seconds.

Matua was so impressed with his opponent's performance that he saluted him.

Either that or Abbott hit him so hard that his body froze in that position.

One of the two.

Rich Franklin vs David Loiseau

Well, you can tell from the picture who did the most damage in this fight. Or, at least you can tell who did the most damage if you assume that David Loiseau didn't sever the entire bottom half of Rich Franklin's body.

Rich Franklin beat David Loiseau in a lopsided decision, with all three judges scoring at least two rounds 10-8 for Franklin.

That's not necessarily what's so significant about this beatdown, though.

Many fight fans believe that Rich broke David's will in this fight, as he never looked the same in a fight after this point.

Matt Hughes vs Royce Gracie

When Royce Gracie decided to step back into the Octagon after spending years away from the sport people said, "Bad idea. You had your time, but the sport has evolved. You don't stand a chance."

Royce should have listened to those people.

Many hoped that Gracie would be able to at least make his match with dominant welterweight champ Matt Hughes competitive, but it wasn't meant to be.

Hughes used his wrestling effectively to control the UFC legend. At one point he had Gracie stuck in a straight arm bar, but Royce refused to tap and Hughes didn't want to break his arm. In the end, Matt transitioned to the back mount and pounded out the victory.

Tito Ortiz vs Ken Shamrock Trilogy

There's no need to pick one of the three fights, they were all pretty much the same story: Ken Shamrock had no answer for the takedowns and ground and pound of Tito Ortiz.

You have to admire Ken's spirit, though.

He fought Ortiz three times and never even came close to victory.

I bet if someone asked him to, he would fight Tito again today.

Randy Couture vs Tim Sylvia

In March of 2007, Randy Couture came out of retirement to fight heavyweight champ Tim Sylvia.

Couture told Dana White that the division was weak and that he could be the champ.

It's hard to argue that the division wasn't weak, given that Couture was given an immediate title shot, coming out of retirement...in a weight class he hadn't fought at in five years.

It's also hard to argue that the division wasn't weak because Couture came out and dominated Tim Sylvia.

He took Tim down whenever he felt like it and even managed to out-strike him, despite having a foot reach disadvantage.

Anderson Silva vs Chris Leben

When Anderson Silva is really on his game, he tends to make his opponents look really bad.

His fight with Chris Leben is no exception.

This was Silva's first fight in the UFC and he was coming into it as a relative unknown.

Anderson quickly shed his unknown status, brutally knocking Chris Leben out in 49 seconds. The win was enough to catapult Silva over the rest of the division and earn him a title shot with Rich Franklin.

Give Leben credit, though, he took A LOT of punishment before finally being put away.

Junior Dos Santos vs Roy Nelson

Roy Nelson may just have the best chin in the heavyweight division.

Junior Dos Santos has proved on multiple occasions that his hands are absolutely lethal and Nelson managed to stand and trade with him for three rounds. Although, as far as the trading went, Nelson received a heck of a lot more than he gave.

Dos Santos completely dominated the first round, flooring Nelson with two of his vintage uppercuts.

From then on Junior completely outclassed Nelson using his vastly superior striking.

Roger Huerta vs Leonard Garcia

In this fight Leonard Garcia shows maybe the most heart I've ever seen anyone show in the Octagon.

It becomes apparent very early in the fight that Roger Huerta can take Garcia down at will and that he is also a superior and more powerful striker.

Leonard landed some pretty decent shots on Roger throughout the fight, but Huerta shook them off as if Leonard's hands were made of jello pudding.

For three rounds Huerta landed big punches whenever he wanted to and got takedowns whenever he wanted to.

By the end of the fight Garcia's face was a swollen mess, but he was still smiling.

Ben Saunders vs Brandon Wolff

And you thought Mark Hominick's hematoma looked bad.

Early in his fight with Brandon Wolff, Ben Saunders trapped Wolff in a muay thai clinch and proceeded to knee him mercilessly.

The end result was the giant bubble you see there in the center of Wolff's forehead.

Gary Goodridge vs Paul Herrera

I tried not to include many really quick knockouts on this list because those can't necessarily be considered beat downs.

This fight, however, is an exception.

Seconds into the fight Gary Goodridge trapped Paul Herrera in a crucifix position and delivered possibly the most devastating elbows in MMA history.

Jon Jones vs Shogun Rua

Mauricio "Shogun" Rua was supposed to be the man to stop Jon Jones' meteoric rise in the UFC, or at least provide him with a challenge.

Unfortunately, Shogun was coming off of a year lay off and surgery.

The grizzled Pride veteran looked like a husk of his former self against Jones.

Bones Jones dominated the fight standing and on the ground, and by the third round Shogun was completely exhausted.

Mercifully, the fight was stopped about half way through the third round.

Georges St. Pierre vs BJ Penn 2

The first time Georges St. Pierre and BJ Penn fought it ended in controversy.

The second fight...not as much.

It was crystal clear which fighter had improved more since the first fight.

GSP had a bit of a tough time taking BJ down in the first round, but after that he took him down at will, passed his guard at will and landed some heavy ground and pound.

By the end of fourth round BJ was battered and exhausted. His corner had seen enough and called the fight.

Cain Velasquez vs Brad Morris

Cain Velasquez's first fight in the UFC was a blowout.

Brad Morris showed some heart, but he was dominated everywhere the fight went.

Cain hurt him with some big punches early on and took the fight to the ground. From there he transitioned from dominant position to dominant position.

Brad managed to get back to his feet a couple times, but each time he was immediately rocked by strikes and sent back to the canvas.

Anderson Silva vs Forrest Griffin

This fight is really difficult to watch if you're a fan of Forrest Griffin.

Forrest has always been known as a brawler, and in this fight Silva exposed the holes in his stand up game.

Anderson was able to easily dodge Griffin's punches while landing his own strikes at will.

Griffin kept pressing forward despite being completely rocked, and that proved to be a poor decision when he was knocked out by what Joe Rogan referred to as a "pawing jab".

BJ Penn vs Joe Stevenson

The picture here is worth a thousand words.

Joe Stevenson is a good lightweight, but he was facing off against a prime BJ Penn.

The thing about a prime BJ Penn is, he makes other fighters look bad.

Penn opened up a cut on Joe Daddy's forehead in the first round with a glancing elbow. Anyone familiar with cuts knows that's one of the worst places to get one.

Stevenson held in there as long as he could, but in the second round Penn got him to the ground again and Joe's blood got in his eyes.

After pounding him thoroughly, Penn sunk in the rear-naked choke and finished the fight.

Brock Lesnar vs Frank Mir 2

Brock Lesnar had a lot of built up frustration going into this fight and he unleashed all of it on Frank Mir's face.

Mir went into this fight much smaller than Lesnar and needed to be able to utilize his guard as much as possible. Unfortunately, Frank had a knee injury going into this fight and as result his jiu-jitsu wasn't as effective as it would usually be.

Frank had no answer for Lesnar's wrestling or ground and pound.

In the second round, Brock pinned Mir up against the cage and let go with some giant punches. The fight was stopped shortly after.

Georges St. Pierre vs Jon Fitch

You wouldn't think that there would be that big a difference between the No. 1 and No. 2 welterweights in the world...but there is.

This was fight was 25 minutes of Georges St. Pierre being way better than Jon Fitch at everything.

Not surprisingly, GSP had a huge advantage standing, but many were surprised by his ability to easily out-wrestle Fitch.

Jon gained a lot of respect from the fans for being able to hang in there for the whole 25 minutes, but the fact is he mounted almost zero offense.

GSP shut Fitch down, 100 percent.