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Looking back over the last five years of major events, from Strikeforce and EliteXC on Showtime and CBS to UFC on Spike TV, Versus and pay-per-view, there have been a number of less-than-enjoyable headlining fights. There have been fights that just failed to excite or hold attention, others that were simply a bore, and some that shouldn't have been at the top of a card in the first place. The following is a completely subjective list, and many will have other fights they'd place ahead of these on their "worst fights" list, but these five, for me, are the worst fights of the last five years:
1.) Anderson Silva vs. Thales Leites - UFC 97 - April 18, 2009
Anderson Silva may be wind up being considered the greatest fighter in this sport, but he's had a few fights against overmatched opponents that brought out one really bad trait of his fighting game: he's got no problem toying with an opponent who doesn't know what to do against him.
Never was this more evident than in his title fight with Brazilian jiu jitsu practitioner Thales Leites at UFC 97 in Montreal.
Leites is simply not a well-rounded fighter. He's got a good ground game, but when it comes to striking, especially against one of the most skilled strikers in the sport, he had nothing to offer. That was to be expected, but what brought this fight to a notorious level of awful was Silva not even caring to engage on the feet, and Leites continually dropping to his back in an attempt to goad Silva to the ground.
"The Spider" toyed with Leites for 25 minutes, sending the fans in Montreal home with an awful final image of what had been a fairly decent card to that point. Leites' performance was so bad that the UFC sent him to the preliminary card in his next fight, and cut him when he dropped a decision in that bout. But with Silva simply not caring to do anything but the bare minimum against a fighter who posed no threat to him, for the second straight fight, he developed a stigma that hadn't been there prior, and it's one he's yet to completely shake.
2.) Frank Mir vs. Mirko Cro Cop - UFC 119 - September 25, 2010
The UFC's debut in Indiana was supposed to be headlined by a rematch between Mir and Antonio Minotauro Nogueira, but continued injury issues for Nogueira pulled him from the fight and Cro Cop took the bout on five weeks notice.
Cro Cop left no question that his decision to take the fight was due to the UFC financially taking care of him, and he even admitted that he wouldn't fully be prepared for the fight due to a short camp. So in retrospect it shouldn't have come as a surprise that he performed the way he did in this fight.
The slow and tentative nature of the bout in large part lies on Mir's shoulders. Cro Cop came in disinterested in the fight, yet Mir didn't have any desire to engage himself. Most of the fight was spent in the clinch or standing across from one another with neither throwing or landing much of anything.
However, unlike the other fights on this list, this one actually did have a finish, as Mir crushed Cro Cop with a knee to the jaw in the third round that brought a merciful end to a terrible fight. But despite the decisive finish, this was a fight that stirred anger in most viewing it, and was the worst major main event fight of 2010.
3.) Anderson Silva vs. Demian Maia - UFC 112 - April 10, 2010
Just under one year from the day of his awful fight with Thales Leites, Silva brought out his inner-showboat for the UFC's debut in Abu Dhabi. He had succeeded in erasing some of the bad images of the fight with Leites by destroying former Light Heavyweight Champion Forrest Griffin in August of 2009, but his return to the middleweight division to defend his belt resulted in a very similar matchup.
This event was supposed to be Silva's fight against Vitor Belfort, but an injury to Belfore handed Maia the shot as the highest-ranked available fighter for the fight with Chael Sonnen unable to turn around immediately after his win over Nate Marquardt in February of 2010.
Maia showed off some improved striking at UFC 131 this month, but at the time this fight took place, he was still pretty much just a jiu jitsu grappler that didn't have much in his arsenal on the feet. And while he didn't resort to flopping to his back, and didn't attempt to continuously pull guard, Maia was equally overmatched against Silva.
But this time, the poor quality of the fight was almost entirely in Silva's court. Maia was trying in this fight. He attempted to land strikes, he attempted to engage and he attempted to grapple. Silva was too fast and elusive for that, but instead of trying to out-strike Maia, Silva decided instead to taunt Maia throughout the fight and literally run during moments of the fight. He was clowning around for the entirety of the fight, and for his third straight title defense he didn't do much of anything.
The fight so enraged UFC President Dana White - long one of Silva's biggest supporters as the "best fighter in the world" - that he threatened to cut him if he had another performance the likes of this fight. Since then, of course, he's had the thrilling come from behind win over Chael Sonnen and the first round face kick KO of Vitor Belfort. However, because of his history in these recent title fights, there will be fear of a repeat performance heading in against Yushin Okami at UFC 134 this summer. Hopefully it doesn't join this list, but he's given reason to worry with the Leites and Maia fights.
4.) Tim Sylvia vs. Andrei Arlovski III - UFC 61 - July 8, 2006
The oldest fight on this list, it seems like it's from an entirely different era of fighting, especially in the heavyweight division. Sylvia and Arlovski had split a pair of decisive fights at UFC 51 and UFC 59, with Arlovski submitting Sylvia and Sylvia finishing Arlovski with strikes, so this fight was one fans were actually looking forward to.
But unlike the previous two encounters, which saw the fight finished in quick fashion, this was five rounds of awful heavyweight action. The fight contained very little action from either fighter, and at the time was one of the poorest main event fights of the modern era of MMA.
The heavyweight division has come along to a much higher level than it was in this fight five years ago, but it stands as a reminder of just how bad it has been in the recent past.
5.) Alistair Overeem vs. Fabricio Werdum - Strikeforce "Overeem vs. Werdum" - June 18, 2011
I've softened on the fight slightly since Saturday, but this was one of the most frustrating fights to watch in such a long time that few examples immediately sprang to mind as being worse. The fact that it was an immensely anticipated fight, with Overeem fighting the highest level heavyweight opponent he had faced since, well, Werdum in 2006 and Werdum returning after his win over Fedor Emelianenko last summer.
With most fans looking forward to what they were hoping would be an excellent heavyweight fight, the resulting stylistic stalemate made for a terrible fight.
Werdum's constant guard-pulling attempts and butt-scooting, including a segment where he literally begged Overeem to come down into his guard, angered fans both in the arena and watching at home. Overeem's inability to do much of anything himself throughout the fight because of Werdum's lack of engagement made for a long night, and one really bad fight. But it wasn't so bad that it broke into the levels of infamy the others on this list have.
Dishonorable Mentions: Nate Marquardt vs. Yushin Okami (UFC 122), Gray Maynard vs. Nate Diaz (UFC Fight Night 20), Rashad Evans vs. Thiago Silva (UFC 108), Randy Couture vs. Brandon Vera (UFC 105), Anderson Silva vs. Patrick Cote (UFC 90), Rashad Evans vs. Michael Bisping (UFC 78)
Siyar Bahadurzada Bao Ligao Josh Barnett David Baron Phil Baroni
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