By Hakon on February 15, 2009

Mixed martial arts, or MMA, is unique from many other combat sports in that there are many ways to win- or lose- a fight.  This creates ample opportunities for the kind of upsets that can turn the entire sports world on its ear, as literally anything can happen during an MMA fight.  In no other combat sport is it more important to have a well-rounded game, or a great game plan that is executed well, than in MMA, which truly makes the sport “human chess”.  Many times in MMA history, someone who is supposedly the better fighter has succumbed to another fighter who had more will, a better plan, or who simply had what it takes to pull off what seemed impossible.  Here are a few great examples. 

Matt Serra Topples Georges St. Pierre 

When it was announced that the winners of The Ultimate Fighter’s fourth season would get a title shot against the champions of their respective divisions, many MMA fans were annoyed or even up in arms about it.  “What a waste!” they said, citing the fact that “worthy” contenders would have to wait their turn while the winners of the reality show, many of whom were no longer active UFC fighters, would get an immediate title shot.  Most fans didn’t believe there was any point to it all, as they didn’t think anyone from the shows could stand a chance against Georges St. Pierre or Anderson Silva, the UFC’s welterweight and middleweight champions. 

Boy, were they wrong. 

Matt Serra, who had fought in the UFC multiple times as both a lightweight and a welterweight, ended up winning in a very close decision over Chris Lytle, which gave him the right to fight Georges St. Pierre.  Many at the time thought St. Pierre was unbeatable, and no one seemed to give Serra a chance.  When the actual fight came, however, it ended up being a stand up affair, in which Serra showed tremendous patience while working his way inside to unload big shots on St. Pierre.  Eventually, some of these shots landed, and when Serra continued to wail away on St. Pierre on the ground, the ref had to stop the fight, and history had been made. 

Nick Diaz Submits Takanori Gomi 

Takanori Gomi had long had the honor of being considered the world’s best at lightweight, and he had built up a resume in the Pride Fighting Championships which backed up the claim.  In contrast, Nick Diaz was universally known as an ill-tempered fighter who had a good submission game in solid boxing skills, but had yet to make his mark in mixed martial arts.  In fact, the UFC showed little interest in resigning him when his contract was up, which led to this matchup in one of Pride’s U.S. shows. 

Immediately, it was obvious that Diaz was fighting to win, not survive.  He peppered Gomi with shots throughout the fight, keeping him at bay with his long reach and awkward (but effective) boxing style.  It seemed clear after a little while that Diaz could possibly win the fight, but the way in which he won was icing on the cake.  Diaz used a gogoplata, which to this day has only been seen a few times in professional MMA competition, to submit the world’s best lightweight.  Although a positive test for marijuana for Diaz led to the result being officially overturned, it did not erase the memory of what happened that day for MMA fans. 

Other upsets that are worth tracking down and viewing include Forrest Griffin’s win over Mauricio “Shogun” Rua in Rua’s UFC debut, Gabriel Gonzaga’s shocking kick to Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic’s head that abruptly ended their UFC bout, and Eddie Bravo’s submission win over Royler Gracie at the Abu Dhabi Championships, even though the match was a jiu-jitsu match, not a mixed martial arts fight.

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