UFC 244: 4 historic UFC fights that could've been for a 'BMF Title'

#2 Wanderlei Silva vs. Chuck Liddell – UFC 79, 29th December 2007

Chuck Liddell's war with Wanderlei Silva lived up to all the hype

It’s fair to say that we got the long-awaited fight between Wanderlei Silva and Chuck Liddell a little too late; had the UFC been able to book it a year beforehand, both men would’ve been coming into the fight on seriously long winning streaks, Silva as the PRIDE Middleweight champion and Liddell as the UFC Light-Heavyweight champion. Simply put, it could’ve been the biggest fight in MMA history to that point.

As it was – with Liddell coming off back-to-back losses and Silva’s last fight being a knockout loss – neither man came in holding a title, nor was either considered the best 205lber in the world. But that didn’t stop it from being a hugely anticipated encounter – and a definite candidate for a historical fight worthy of deciding a ‘BMF’ title.

There were few fighters in the world – if any – who were more intimidating than Silva and Liddell at the time, and with 37 knockouts between them, the idea that the fight could last the distance seemed ridiculous. The two men showed more aggression in their pre-fight staredown than many fighters showed in the Octagon itself.

Curiously enough, the fight did last for three rounds, with Liddell eventually being awarded the win via unanimous decision. But the fight certainly lived up to all of the pre-fight hype, with both men exchanging furiously from start to finish, neither willing to back down in some of the most jaw-dropping trades that the UFC had ever seen.

And despite winning the fight – and being recognised once again as arguably the baddest Light-Heavyweight on the planet – Liddell went on to lose his next three fights before his 2010 retirement, showing the cost of the fight to his career overall.