Worst mismatches

[freefightdave]

Ok, these kind of threads have been done to death on other forums, but this forum needs a thread of its own:)
Which fight are in your opinions the worst mismatches ever? I happened to pick up KOTC: Greatest hits, today (awsome to get to buy mma at your videostore), and it had Duane Ludwig vs. Shad Smith on it. This has got to be the worst mismatch I`ve ever seen. Duane is a seasoned mma competitor and can (could) hold his own in K-1 max. Smith, on the other hand, had his style listed as streetfighting (wtf?) and had apparently never done any kind of serious mma training. He took kick after kick to the head and was a human punching bag until his corner threw in the towel.

[FieldingMellish]

Gary Goodridge v. Yoshiaki Yatsu in Pride. The first fight was a horrible mismatch. The rematch was borderline criminal.

[kaakun]

Wanderlei vs. Iwasaki @ PRIDE dynamite (shockwave).

[K++s]

Silva vs. Saku III

Silva was clearly on the upswing and Saku on the down after the loss to Nino. They'd already fought twice and Silva had pretty brutally finished both of them.

What did they realistically think was going to happen?!!?

[FieldingMellish]

What did they realistically think was going to happen?!!?

That they'd fill Saitama Super Arena. What actually happened to Sakuraba during and after the fight (another trip to the hospital) was pretty immaterial.

[kainer2]

Fedor vs Yuji Nagata - what were they thinking!

[FieldingMellish]

Fedor vs Yuji Nagata - what were they thinking!

That was Antonio Inoki's doing. His way of "thinking" is a little different to that of, well, everybody else on the planet.

[kainer2]

that is true...i have a love/hate thing with inoki. He cracks me up but annoys the hell out of me. His events seem to have as much of him in it as all the fights put together

[FieldingMellish]

that is true...i have a love/hate thing with inoki. He cracks me up but annoys the hell out of me. His events seem to have as much of him in it as all the fights put together

Know what you mean about Inoki, he's fascinating but quite, quite mad at times. I posted a few stories about him a few months back. See the 1st and 5th post in this thread:

http://forum.kakutougi.info/showthread.php?t=507&page=1&pp=20&highlight=Inoki

Not saying they're ALL true though I know for a fact most of them are. I've also read that he takes a hefty percentage when booking a New Japan fighter into K-1 or Pride or whatever. Which helps explain his mania for booking pro wrestlers on major MMA shows.

[Shinobu]

Silva vs. Saku III

Silva was clearly on the upswing and Saku on the down after the loss to Nino. They'd already fought twice and Silva had pretty brutally finished both of them.

What did they realistically think was going to happen?!!?
While the outcome was pretty obvious for most people it wasn't that bad of a mismatch really. Saku was quite fast and looked to be in OK shape. Wanderlei just has a habit of stopping most fighters (even the good ones). Wanderlei vs Rampage II has to be a mismatch as well then.

Wanderlei vs. Iwasaki @ PRIDE dynamite (shockwave).
Now that gets my vote! Putting some old Karate guy, who has never ever had MMA training or a MMA fight for that matter as a REALLY late substitute (I don't remember who Wand was supposed to be fighting) vs a MMA star on the rising just spells doom.

[freefightdave]

Has anyone seen Ludwig-Smith?

[SOUL_FIGHTER]

Yeah, I saw the fight. Ridiculous: Trying to stand with Ludwig with little experience.

What was up with his shoes? Wearing VANS casual/skate shoes in the ring? I felt like buying that dude some wrestling shoes (not that expensive, like 18 bucks on suplay.com for Adidas Tyrints)

[freefightdave]

What was up with his shoes? Wearing VANS casual/skate shoes in the ring? I felt like buying that dude some wrestling shoes (not that expensive, like 18 bucks on suplay.com for Adidas Tyrints)
ahaha how did I forget about those lol, who the hell would wear sneakers while fighting mma?!

[RedHawk]

This fight never happened, but awhile ago they were trying to set up a Cro Cop vs Takayama fight. I was pretty steamed about it, as I recall. I'm glad it never happened.

[MZN]

Yeah, I saw the fight. Ridiculous: Trying to stand with Ludwig with little experience.

What was up with his shoes? Wearing VANS casual/skate shoes in the ring? I felt like buying that dude some wrestling shoes (not that expensive, like 18 bucks on suplay.com for Adidas Tyrints)

lol, now you mention the shoes I can recall the fight. A real mismatch indeed..

What do you think about Kanehara's last 5 fights? :)

[Eric Persson]

There's atleast one horrible mismatch on each Pridecard, they can't matchup fighters for shit in Japan.

[( o Y o )]

Minowa vs Yvel had all the makings of one, and would be top of the list had Yvel brutalized him and then hospitalized the man no-longer-with-a-mullet.

[SOUL_FIGHTER]

lol, now you mention the shoes I can recall the fight. A real mismatch indeed..

What do you think about Kanehara's last 5 fights? :)
Never saw them, but it seems to be all strikers.

He tried standing with them?! :eek:

[K++s]

Minowa vs Yvel had all the makings of one, and would be top of the list had Yvel brutalized him and then hospitalized the man no-longer-with-a-mullet.

Except that Krikit is still crying from that match...

[Water]

Im surprised nobody mention Bob Sapp/Kiyoshi Tamura! That was a HUUUGE mismatch...

[ArtOfWar]

Mirko v/s Dos Caras Jr. OMFG! What the HELL were they thinking :)

All respects to Gary Goodridge by the way, love the man. But WTF was he doing in the ring with Fedor?!

[roadfighter3]

sergei kharitonov vs choi mu bae. poor korean :(

chuck vs vernon - maybe 6 years ago it would have been okay, but to put a killer like chuck against a guy who isnt top 20 is just plain wrong

wanderlei vs half the guys hes fought from 2001 - 2002, and also vs minowa

rampage vs minowa

so many others

[Toffa]

Mirko v/s Dos Caras Jr. OMFG! What the HELL were they thinking :)



Haha that was great! Bas and Mauro were hyping him as the first South American fighter in Pride, talking about him training with Marco Ruas then BANG, down he goes...

[MZN]

Never saw them, but it seems to be all strikers.

He tried standing with them?! :eek:

lol, well He didn't show any tactics as he's not the man to impose a game plan on all these men :).

[brazilianshiva]

Bob Sapp x Tamura, CC x Oyama and Yoshida x Rulon get my vote.

[FieldingMellish]

Don't really see how Yoshida-Gardner was a mismatch. There was a major size difference certainly but given Yoshida's experience in MMA I think most people expected him to overcome that. And as both were Gold medallists in a grappling based sport and it was likely they'd get into a major grappling based match (though they didn't as it turned out) I don't see how mismatch applies to be honest.

[Masta]

For me it is Genki Vs. Dekkers... never wanted to see that.

[Grant Ellis]

Enson Inoue vs. Kulikaopai or whatever his name was...he was bald and strange and kept smacking his head. Also Enson vs. the really fat guy.


Sakuraba vs. Gilles Arsene.

Igor Vovchanchyn vs. Daijiro Matsui

Anthony Macias vs. Dan Severn

[Grant Ellis]

Mirko v/s Dos Caras Jr. OMFG! What the HELL were they thinking :)

All respects to Gary Goodridge by the way, love the man. But WTF was he doing in the ring with Fedor?!

Gary was actually on a huge upswing, aside from losing to Nogueira.

I mean, he was the Gatekeeper of the PRIDE FC, and a heavy hitter...shame he didn't even get a punch off.

[brazilianshiva]

Don't really see how Yoshida-Gardner was a mismatch. There was a major size difference certainly but given Yoshida's experience in MMA I think most people expected him to overcome that. And as both were Gold medallists in a grappling based sport and it was likely they'd get into a major grappling based match (though they didn't as it turned out) I don't see how mismatch applies to be honest.

Maybe is just my opinion, but Yoshida is not very known by his stand-up technique and I can't see Yoshida putting Rulon on the ground.

[Grant Ellis]

Maybe is just my opinion, but Yoshida is not very known by his stand-up technique and I can't see Yoshida putting Rulon on the ground.


Rulon wasn't very known for his standup either.

[brazilianshiva]

But he was known to have more than 50 lbs over Yoshida.

[Grant Ellis]

But he was known to have more than 50 lbs over Yoshida.

And Akebono weighed almost twice as much as Royce.

[( o Y o )]

I think though Gardner was known to be heavier, and more importantly, extremely difficult to take down.

[roadfighter3]

cro cop vs kanehara and oyama were just.. i mean at the very least give him someone in his weight class.

[brazilianshiva]

And Akebono weighed almost twice as much as Royce.

Oh, I was afraid you would bring up the Royce x Akebono 'fight'.
I don't have any better arguments :-)

[Charuto]

Shogun x Namekawa

He could've ended it pretty much at any point but continued to beat the guy almost to the point of tears.

[Flibb]

enson vs. nog
Enson lost 3 fights before that and was known for his heart, nog is known as probably the best submission artist in mma and it was obvious enson would get choked out

[FieldingMellish]

To be honest I'm a little amazed nobody else mentioned those Goodridge-Yatsu fights. That was just beyond wrong.

[Grant Ellis]

To be honest I'm a little amazed nobody else mentioned those Goodridge-Yatsu fights. That was just beyond wrong.

Since the loss to DM we've given up on listening to you. ;\


OHHH! SNAP!

Heal.

[FieldingMellish]

Since the loss to DM we've given up on listening to you. ;\


OHHH! SNAP!

Heal.

Are you trying to incite another episode of Mellish Rage?

[Grant Ellis]

Are you trying to incite another episode of Mellish Rage?

Grant is to Mellish Rage like Viagra is to limpdick!