It is important to note that none of these match ups are scheduled for any up coming MMA event that I know of. In fact, the likelyhood of many of these fights taking place is very low due to said fighters being members of different MMA organizations. This is nothing more but a dream list of fighters I would love to see go at it.
Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto (15 – 1 – 0) vs. Urijah “The California Kid” Faber (19 – 1 – 0
Alot of people would love to see this. Both guys are considered the top at 145lbs and strong, aggressive wrestlers. They have a style and attitude that’s very similar and it would be great to see for once and for all who is the king at 145lbs.
Siala “Mighty Mo” Siliga (3 – 0 – 0) vs. Mark Hunt (5 – 3 – 0)
Two big ass, tough as nails, hard hittin’, iron chinned Samoans with kickboxing backgrounds. This would be f@#$ing fireworks man. I think Hunt may have the edge because he has more experience fighting MMA, but I also predict their pride as Samoans would cause them to stand and bang it out till one goes down.
Nick Diaz (14 – 6 – 0) vs. Shinya Aoki (11 – 2 – 0)
One of the reasons I was ecstatic about Diaz going over to fight in Pride was the oppurtunity to see this match up. Both Diaz and Aoki are black belts in Brazilian Jujitsu. Diaz compliments his training with boxing while Aoki does his with Judo (which he has a blackbelt in). I think Diaz may have a bit of an advantage on the feet, but it probably wouldn’t take long for this fight to go to the ground. From there we’d see a jujitsu clinic full of sub attempts, reversals and counters. A match between these two would be a submission lover’s dream.
Paulo Filho (14 – 0 – 0) vs. Matt Hughes (41 – 5 – 0)
Both these guys are grappling gorillas that like to get on top with what I like to call the “hit and submit” tactic. A strategy where a fighters uses strikes on the ground to create openings for submissions. If these two ever did face off I think the deciding factor is who can take who down and get dominate position first. It would be an interesting test for Filho who hasn’t really faced anyone who had the capababilites to not only fight his takedown, but also take him down as well.
Tyson Griffin (9 – 1 – 0) vs. Sean “The Muscle Shark” Sherk (31 – 2 – 1)
One way or another these two monster wrestlers have to fight. I think this fight would be on par with when Sherk fought Hughes. Coming down from 170lbs, I’d expect Sherk to have a greater size and strenght advantage, but Griffin is packed full of power and I think this would be a submission wrestling war similiar to this last match with Clay Guida and Tyson Griffin.
Gina Carano (4 – 0 – 0) vs. Jan “Cuddles” Finney (3 – 3 – 0)
I’m so pissed this fight couldn’t take place on the K-1 Dyanimite USA card. I think both these women have a style that matches up perfectly with each other. Both of them are strong strikers so I’d expect this fight to stay on the feet for the most part. Finney is a brawler type who hits hard and Carano well known for her background in Muay Thai. I hope Pro Elite manages to set this fight up somewhere down the road.
Tito “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” Ortiz (15 – 5 -0) vs.
Ricardo “O Tigre Brasileiro” Arona (13 – 5 – 0)
I’ve wanted to see these two go at it for awhile now. They both like to get the fight to the ground and be on top. Both are often criticized as being either boring or not likely to finish their opponents. However, I think it would make a very challenging match for both of them fighting someone who can take them down and stay on top of them. I’m curious to see how either guy would respond to that kind of pressure, because I don’t expect Arona or Ortiz to just lay on their backs and get dominated. This kind of pressure would really bring the fight out in both of them and I’d love to watch. As with the Filho/Hughes match up, the first to get dominant position could be the winner.
Rich Franklin (22 – 2 – 0) vs. Denis Kang (27 – 8 – 1) vs. Dan Henderson (22 – 5 – 0)
Any match up mixing these 3 would be awesome. All are exciting fighters that like to push the pace and have the tools to KO and Sub opponents. I expect at some point we’ll see a bout between Henderson and Franklin. Not quite sure on the likelyhood of Kang though. But I know for a fact the UFC has approached Kang before about fighting for their org, so who knows.
Anderson “The Spider” Silva (18 – 4 – 0) vs. Kendall “Da Spyder” Grove (8 – 3 – 0)
I’d love to see this match up with one stipulation in mind: The loser has to change their nickname.
