Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) is a sport that’s high on entertainment and action. However, just like every other thing in this world, it isn’t perfect. From time to time, our Sport witnesses terrible and awkward performances from our beloved MMA fighters.
The UFC being the world’s premier MMA promotion is no different. Let’s take a look at a few such unintentionally funny and downright horrendous UFC matchups that bored the fans out of their minds:
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#5 Ken Shamrock vs Royce Gracie 2 – The World’s Most Dangerous Boring Fight
‘The World’s Most Dangerous Man’ Ken Shamrock (28-17-2) is an MMA legend, UFC Hall-of-Famer and current Bellator star, holding a list of accomplishments ranging from championships in Pride FC and Pancrase to being the 1st UFC Superweight (now defunct) champion; with an MMA base of Catch Wrestling and Shootfighting.
Royce Gracie (15-2-3) is one of the early pioneers of the sport of MMA and one of the founders of the UFC. Gracie is the UFC 1, 2 and 4 tournament champion, with an MMA base of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ).
Shamrock fought Gracie in a trilogy of fights, getting submitted by Gracie in the 1st fight at UFC 1 in 1993; fighting to a draw at UFC 5 in 1995 and at Bellator 149 in February of 2016.
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The 2nd fight in the Shamrock-Gracie series holds the record for the longest fight in UFC history at 36 minutes, a (non) fight that is considered to be one of the most boring fights of all time.
At the time of their UFC 5 rematch, Royce Gracie was the UFC’s poster boy, marketed as the lean-mean-submission machine, renowned for submitting larger wrestlers. Ken Shamrock had been a brute of a man and a fighter who relied on muscling his opponents to the mat and working to submit them from there.
Coming into the rematch, Shamrock was so petrified of the BJJ savant that he resorted to a non-stop lay-and-pray strategy-taking down his lighter opponent and laying on top of him in an attempt to tire him out.
The game plan failed miserably and the fight comprised of a terrified Shamrock laying on top of Gracie for the better part of 36 minutes. The crowd showered the fighters with boos, deservedly so, and owing to the absence of MMA judges in that era, Shamrock-Gracie 2 was declared a draw.
Ken Shamrock’s 36-minute Lay-And-Pray Master-class against Royce Gracie is rightfully known as the World’s Most Boring Fight.
#4 Clay Guida and Gray Maynard’s 5-Round yawn-fest
Clay ‘The Carpenter’ Guida (32-17) is a former Strikeforce Lightweight (LW) champion with an MMA base of wrestling and BJJ. Gray ‘The Bully’ Maynard (12-6-1-1) is a former UFC LW title-challenger with an MMA base of wrestling, BJJ and boxing.
After falling by KO in his rematch against Frankie Edgar for the UFC LW belt, Maynard returned to the Octagon against Guida in a UFC on FX main event matchup. For 5 painfully boring rounds of Guida bouncing around the Octagon with his hair flying in all its glory, the judges awarded Maynard a split-decision victory.
The fight featured little to no action, with most of the said action being Guida feinting with strikes and wildly flailing his arms at Maynard from a mile away. Whenever Maynard would try to close the distance, Guida would hop onto his bike and back off. In fact, the referee issued a warning in the 5th and final round to Guida for timidity!
‘The Carpenter’s timidity against ‘The Bully’ put the entire arena in Atlantic City, New Jersey to sleep on June 22nd, 2012.
#3 Ed Herman and Jake Shields’ UFC abomination
Ed Herman (23-12-1) is a UFC Light-heavyweight (LHW) fighter who previously fought at Middleweight (MW) with an MMA base of wrestling. Jake Shields (31-9-1-1) is a former Strikeforce MW champion and former Shooto Welterweight (WW) champion, with an MMA base of wrestling, BJJ and Shooto.
At UFC 150 in 2012, Shields faced Herman in a 3-Round matchup in every fighter’s nightmare location, Denver, Colorado. The cardio-draining elevation in Denver, Shields’ grappling-heavy fighting style and Herman’s strange game-plan ensured a full-blown episode of unintentional comedy.
Herman being the better striker of the two inexplicably decided to clinch with the superior grappler, clinching Shields against the fence.
With both fighters hanging on to each other and not much action taking place, the 1st round set the tone for the fight. The 2nd and 3rd rounds featured more of the same, with Shields lying on top of Herman without getting off much offence.
Now although Shields is one of the best WW fighters of his generation, there’s no denying the fact that his fighting style involves a lot of grappling aimed at hiding his striking deficiencies.
That, coupled with Herman’s strange strategy of initiating the grappling exchanges with his grappling-specialist opponent, lead to one of the most uneventful matchups in Octagon history.
Ed Herman’s terrible strategy and Jake Shields’ grinding style culminated in a God-awful matchup at UFC 150.
#2 Tim Sylvia vs Andrei Arlovski 3- The Jab-fest
Tim ‘Maine-iac’ Sylvia (31-10-1) is a former two-time UFC Heavyweight (HW) champion, with an MMA base of karate and wrestling. Andrei ‘Pitbull’ Arlovski (25-14-1) is a former UFC HW champion as well as former Interim-UFC HW champion, with an MMA base of Sambo, Judo and kickboxing.
Sylvia faced Arlovski four times over the course of their MMA careers, at UFC 51, UFC 59, UFC 61 and at ONE FC: Pride of a Nation.
The ‘Maine-iac’ got submitted by Arlovski in the 1st fight and went on to knock out ‘Pitbull’ in their rematch. Their 3rd fight at UFC 61 was an unintentionally hilarious matchup with both fighters coming out wary of each others’ power and appearing almost skittish when hit by the slightest of grazing strikes.
The 6’8” Sylvia kept the 6’3” Arlovski at the end of his long jab, executing the jab-rinse-repeat strategy over the better part of 25 minutes. The fans were bored, the commentators were bored and quite frankly, even both fighters themselves appeared disappointed toward the final frame of this abomination of a fight.
Tim Sylvia and Andrei Arlovski’s skittish performance in their trilogy matchup lands the two ‘frenemies’ the 2nd spot on our list.
#1 UFC’s Gabriel Gonzaga vs Konstantin Erokhin ties with the Shamrock-Gracie trilogy fight in Bellator
Gabriel ’Napao’ Gonzaga (17-11) is a former UFC HW title-challenger with an MMA base of Judo and BJJ. Konstantin ‘The Russian Bear’ Erokhin (9-3) is a Russian HW fighter with an MMA base of Sambo and wrestling.
In December of 2015, Gonzaga faced Erokhin in the most ‘Heavyweight’ of Heavyweight matchups, featuring two gassed giants swinging at the air, standing miles apart from each other. Gonzaga took home a Unanimous Decision win over Erokhin, however, on that night no UFC fan in Las Vegas was a winner.
The two aforementioned giants showcased some of the most terrible and lousiest kick-boxing combinations in Octagon history.
That brings us once again, to ‘The World’s Most Dangerous Man’ Ken Shamrock (28-17-2) and arch-rival Royce Gracie (15-2-3).
After boring UFC fans out of their minds back in their UFC 5 rematch in 1995, the two MMA legends somehow convinced Bellator MMA President Scott Coker to give them a chance to run back their fight at Bellator 149, in the year... wait for it... 2016!
The fight was an all-out freak-show, with its co-main being Dhafir ‘Dada 5000’ Harris’ infamous matchup against the late-Kimbo Slice. Gracie kneed Shamrock in the groin and proceeded to finish him via ground-and-pound TKO.
However, the replays clearly showed Gracie’s blatant groin-shot, which was later appealed by Shamrock. The fight was an unnecessary matchup between two MMA legends way past their prime, and its controversial ending didn’t help either.
Gonzaga-Erokhin’s slow motion HW (non-fight) and Shamrock-Gracie’s Bellator freak-show top our list of boring fights. Beware folks!
Be it Shamrock-Gracie’s uneventful draw or Guida-Maynard’s 5 round sparring session inside the octagon; Shields’ lay-and-pray or the Arlovski-Sylvia jab-fest. They pale in comparison to the UFC’s Gonzaga-Erokhin travesty and Bellator’s Shamrock-Gracie freak-show.
As always, keep up with our tradition, write to me about fights which you feel could’ve made our list.
Till then, keep training and beware of the aforementioned fights!
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