Saturday night at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Stephan Bonnar has a chance to write his name in the history books for a second time.
Already etched in the fabric of the UFC story for his fight with Forrest Griffin in the finale of the first season of The Ultimate Fighter, “The American Psycho” faces middleweight champion Anderson Silva in a light heavyweight contest that serves as the main event of UFC 153 this weekend. While Bonnar hasn’t fought since last November and was considered to be in semi-retirement, Silva continues to reign as the greatest fighter in the sport today, fresh off a second-round destruction of Chael Sonnen at UFC 146 in July.
Few are giving Bonnar a chance to defeat the iconic Silva, who has yet to lose inside the UFC Octagon, but if he’s able to pull off the upset, it will stand as one of the biggest surprises in UFC history.
In honour of the ever-so-slight chance that Bonnar shocks the world, here are five of the biggest upsets to take place in the Octagon to date.
Randy Couture defeats Vitor Belfort – UFC 15
This was pre-legend Couture against legend-in-the-making Belfort, and it was a massive upset at the time. “The Phenom” had crushed four consecutive opponents, three in under a minute, and people expected him to lord over the UFC for years to come. Couture derailed those plans with his now trademark dirty boxing, and started his path towards being one of the greatest fighters in MMA history.
Randy Couture defeats Tim Sylvia – UFC 68
Couture cemented his legend with this one, returning from retirement to topple the UFC heavyweight champion. As much as people dog Sylvia now, he was unquestionably the best heavyweight in the company at the time, and he was expected to dominate “the old man.” Couture set the tone for the fight dropping Sylvia with an overhand right eight-seconds into the contest, earning a unanimous decision to win the heavyweight title for the third time.
Matt Serra defeats Georges St-Pierre – UFC 69
Hands down, the biggest upset in UFC history. Serra earned a shot at the welterweight champion by beating Chris Lytle to win Season 4 of The Ultimate Fighter, and cashed in his lottery ticket by stunning the French-Canadian at 3:25 of the first round. Serra was never able to duplicate his success, and St-Pierre has dominated since, but this moment will forever resonate with fight fans.
Gabriel Gonzaga defeats Mirko Cro Cop – UFC 70
Cro Cop was still considered one of the top heavyweights in the sport at the time, and fresh off a win in his UFC debut. Gonzaga had been rolling as well, but came in with much less fanfare than the former Pride standout. What made this one even more incredible was that Gonzaga finished Cro Cop with his own finisher, dropping him with a headkick in the final ten seconds of the first round.
Frankie Edgar defeats BJ Penn – UFC 112
Penn was at the height of his most recent “focused, motivated, in-shape” run, and while Edgar had put together a trio of quality performances, beating Penn wasn’t something anyone expected. And then it happened. “The Answer” used his stick-and-move style to out-point “The Prodigy,” and proved it wasn’t a fluke four months later by besting Penn a second time.
E. Spencer Kyte is the author of Keyboard Kimura (theprovince.com/mmablog), the MMA blog of The Province. He is also a regular contributor to ufc.com, UFC Magazine, and Fight Magazine. Follow him on Twitter: @spencerkyte.
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