MMA Comments
  • Home
  • MMA News
  • MMA Fighting
  • MMA Junkie
  • MMA Video
  • UFC Video
  • The Underground
  • Updates
  • Contact
    • About us
    • Amazon Disclaimer
    • DMCA / Copyrights Disclaimer
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms and Conditions
Skip to content
MMA Comments
All The Latest MMA News In One Place
  • MMA News
  • MMA Fighting
  • MMA Junkie
  • MMA Video
  • UFC Video
  • The Underground
  • Updates
  • Contact
    • About us
    • Amazon Disclaimer
    • DMCA / Copyrights Disclaimer
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms and Conditions

5 UFC superfights Dana White should’ve made but didn’t

June 9, 2022 by admin 0 Comments

MMA news
Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter
Share on Pinterest
Share on LinkedIn

By Simon Samano |

June 8, 2022 7:30 pm ET


One thing fans of mixed martial arts often rave about compared to boxing is that, in MMA, “the best fight the best.” While that’s mostly true, it’s not always the case.

Every now and then we clamor for a fight that doesn’t get made for one reason or another. In the history of the UFC, it’s happened a handful of times, although UFC president Dana White insists it’s happened only once since he took over the promotion in 2001.

“Well, if you think about it, I’ve made every fight that was ever possible to make in MMA, including Mayweather and McGregor,” White said Wednesday during a fan Q&A hosted by Laura Sanko. “The only fight that I ever failed to make was Fedor vs. Brock. Every other fight that we ever thought about or the fans wanted to see or whatever it was, I’ve made.”

That’s not entirely true.

Below are five UFC superfights White should’ve made but didn’t.

(Note: This list excludes fights that were booked but didn’t happen because of circumstances outside of the UFC’s control.)

Fedor Emelianenko vs. Brock Lesnar

We’ll start with the one White admits got away: Fedor Emelianenko vs. Brock Lesnar.

The year was 2009. Fedor hadn’t lost in nine years, during which he posted a 27-0 record with one no contest while dominating mostly in PRIDE. At the time, he was widely considered the greatest heavyweight ever. Then you had Lesnar, a behemoth of a man who came over from WWE and won the UFC heavyweight championship by dominating Randy Couture in just his third promotional appearance.

White met with Fedor once, with the hope of striking a deal that would bring him over to the UFC to challenge Lesnar for the title at Cowboys Stadium (now AT&T Stadium). Could you imagine how amazing that would’ve been?

Alas, White and Fedor never reached an agreement. Fedor instead signed with Strikeforce where he went 1-3.

Opportunity missed.

Anderson Silva vs. Georges St-Pierre

Georges St-Pierre (left) and Anderson Silva face off during an appearance in September 2019.

“If Georges St. Pierre against Anderson Silva were to happen, that’s the fight you could do at Cowboys Stadium. We’ve been talking to (Cowboys Stadium officials) for a while.”

That’s what White said in November 2012 just before GSP defended his welterweight title for the seventh consecutive time by beating Carlos Condit at UFC 154. We all salivated at the thought of the two fighters considered to be the greatest of all time settling the debate in the cage.

Both men were open to it, but the size difference always was a concern as St-Pierre wasn’t a very big 170-pounder and then-middleweight champion Silva was a big 185er who performed well at light heavyweight. In a 2017 interview, St-Pierre said he would’ve fought Silva at a 177-pound catchweight, but White and Co. didn’t like that idea, so the superfight of all superfights never came to be.

Would’ve been something special.

Ronda Rousey vs. Cris Cyborg

This pick comes with a caveat in that we have the benefit of hindsight in knowing that a fight between Ronda Rousey and Cris Cyborg likely would’ve gone badly for Rousey. But at the time it was being discussed, a matchup between them could’ve easily been billed as the unstoppable force vs. the immovable object.

Rousey was the biggest star in the UFC, running through bantamweight competition with her signature armbar as she made six consecutive title defenses. Cyborg, meanwhile, had been pummeling opponents since 2005 and was easily the hardest hitter in women’s MMA.

Cyborg was in Invicta FC at the time talk of a Rousey superfight really ramped up, but there was always the issue of weight to hold things up. Rousey wanted Cyborg to come down all the way to 135 pounds instead of meeting in the middle at a 140 catchweight.

The UFC could’ve poached Cyborg from Invicta at any point to make it happen but never did. And by the time Cyborg made her UFC debut in May 2016, the ship had sailed as Holly Holm made Rousey look silly in a stand-up fight before knocking her out in November 2015 at UFC 193, killing all possibility of a Rousey-Cyborg showdown.

Like we said, probably for the better for Rousey.

Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano

Long before Rousey became a mainstream star thanks to the UFC, Gina Carano was the first breakthrough star of women’s MMA. Suffice to say, a fight between them easily could’ve been one of the biggest fights in MMA history.

Carano’s final bout was a loss to Cyborg under the Strikeforce banner in August 2009. After that, Carano moved on to being an actor and making movies Hollywood. But then White and the UFC brass came calling. According to a November 2019 interview, Carano said they met for dinner where she was offered $1 million to fight Rousey. She was in, but she told White that she needed time to find a team and get back into fight camp since she’d been making movies for a few years.

Everything seemed to line up for a superfight – except it didn’t.

“Then like the next day, Dana was out there talking about me, talking about my name, and telling people that he was going to sign me – and I don’t even have a team yet,” Carano explained. “I was like, ‘That’s not what we discussed; you were supposed to give me at least six months to kind of find a team.’ Then he started trying to put on the pressure through the media, and it was a bummer, because I told him over text message that’s not what we talked about. I need time. Now I’m going to walk into a gym, and people are going to know that’s what I’m doing. I need to build trust if I’m going to find people.

“So then he kept on doing that, and I was still kind of searching for a team and feeling all that pressure, and then he sent me a text message saying, ‘This b*tch is something, like d*cking us around,’ something like that. And I sent a text message back and I sent, ‘I think you sent this out to the wrong person,’ and he said, ‘I don’t think I did.’

“That was the last conversation that we had over text message.”

Jon Jones vs. Francis Ngannou

As of this writing, former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones continues to prepare to return to the octagon as a heavyweight, and there is no bigger fight he could come back to than facing champion Francis Ngannou.

This should be a no-brainer, and we should’ve gotten this fight some time in 2021 after Ngannou knocked out Stipe Miocic for the title. The problem? Jones wanted more money, as did Ngannou, and since White isn’t inclined to give them increases, we don’t get a superfight fans have clamored for and one that would generate huge revenue for the UFC.

*Sigh*

Anderson Silva, Breaking, Brock Lesnar, Cris Cyborg, Evergreen, Fedor Emelianenko, Francis Ngannou, Georges St-Pierre, Gina Carano, Jon Jones, Ronda Rousey, video, Featured, News, UFC

This article was originally published by Usatoday.com. Read the original article here.
Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter
Share on Pinterest
Share on LinkedIn

Products You May Like

Ads by Amazon

Articles You May Like

Jacked Anthony Johnson plans KO of Yoel Romero in MMA return | Bellator 258
Report: Sterling-Cejudo Headed To UFC 287 In April
UFC 283 Faceoffs: Glover Teixeira vs. Jamahal Hill, Deiveson Figueiredo vs. Brandon Moreno 4
José Aldo’s Opponent Revealed For Pro Boxing Debut
Modestas Bukauskas books return at UFC 284 in Perth vs. Tyson Pedro

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

MMA Comments
Follow us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
Follow us on LinkedIn
Follow us on Pinterest
Follow us on Instagram
Follow us on YouTube

Recent Articles

  • Watch The MMA Hour with Edwards, Masvidal, Woodley, and Nicolson in studio now
  • Dana White Hits Back At Critics Of Power Slap Fighter Pay
  • Paul Teases ‘Major Announcement,’ Tags White
  • Mike Perry to act as back-up for Tommy Fury in Jake Paul fight
  • Video: Should Conor McGregor, Tony Ferguson be ‘The Ultimate Fighter 31’ coaches?
  • Marlon Vera details impressive back tattoo by famous artist Mister Cartoon
  • Demetrious Johnson Names What Separates Him From Other GOAT Contenders
  • ‘Rampage’ Jackson Still Wants To Fight His TUF Bully Victim
  • MMA Junkie’s Knockout of the Month for January: Ismael Bonfim flattens Terrance McKinney
  • Kattar Lands a 💣 !!
Ads by Amazon

MMA News

  • Dana White Hits Back At Critics Of Power Slap Fighter Pay
  • Video: Should Conor McGregor, Tony Ferguson be ‘The Ultimate Fighter 31’ coaches?
  • Paul Teases ‘Major Announcement,’ Tags White
  • Demetrious Johnson Names What Separates Him From Other GOAT Contenders
  • MMA Junkie’s Knockout of the Month for January: Ismael Bonfim flattens Terrance McKinney
Ads by Amazon

UFC News

  • Kattar Lands a 💣 !!
  • Rise of Marlon “Chito” Vera
  • Robert Whittaker Wins TUF: The Smashes | 2012 | On This Day
  • UFC 259: Blachowicz vs Adesanya – I Know What True Greatness Is | Fight Preview
  • Proof That Sean Strickland Is A Legit Contender In the Middleweight Division! 👊👊

Categories

  • MMA Fighting
  • MMA Junkie
  • MMA news
  • MMA Video
  • The Underground
  • UFC Video
  • Updates

Archives

  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021

Categories

  • MMA Fighting
  • MMA Junkie
  • MMA news
  • MMA Video
  • The Underground
  • UFC Video
  • Updates

Usefull Links

  • Contact us
  • About us
  • Amazon Disclaimer
  • DMCA / Copyrights Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms and Conditions

Recent Articles

  • Watch The MMA Hour with Edwards, Masvidal, Woodley, and Nicolson in studio now
  • Dana White Hits Back At Critics Of Power Slap Fighter Pay
  • Paul Teases ‘Major Announcement,’ Tags White
  • Mike Perry to act as back-up for Tommy Fury in Jake Paul fight
  • Video: Should Conor McGregor, Tony Ferguson be ‘The Ultimate Fighter 31’ coaches?

Copyright © 2023 by MMA Comments. All rights reserved. All articles, images, product names, logos, and brands are property of their respective owners. All company, product and service names used in this website are for identification purposes only. Use of these names, logos, and brands does not imply endorsement unless specified. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Powered by WordPress using DisruptPress Theme.