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4. Mirko Filipovic vs. Wanderlei Silva
Pride “Final Conflict Absolute”
Sept. 10, 2006 | Saitama, Japan

Two of MMA’s most violent strikers got together a second time after they had fought to a draw at Pride 20 four years earlier. While their initial encounter did not end in dramatic fashion, their ballyhooed rematch certainly did. “Cro Cop” was still regarded as one of the sport’s premier heavyweights. Silva had never been knocked out in the Pride ring, his two losses coming in close decisions against Mark Hunt and Ricardo Arona. While he was arguably MMA’s top light heavyweight at the time, he was the smallest man in the 2006 Pride open weight grand prix.

“Cro Cop” ripped him to shreds in the five-plus minutes they fought. Silva looked slow, worn out and many steps behind the Croatian. The Brazilian was a battered mess: His right eye was swollen shut, his left eye was not much better and he was bleeding from his nose and mouth. Silva still tried to take out “Cro Cop,” but it was no use. Filipovic thwacked a left shin into Silva’s ribs, forcing him to almost double over. Silva circled out, but when he tried to regroup, Filipovic’s famous left leg was already on its way. It detonated on Silva’s head, and “The Axe Murderer” was finished. He crumbled in a heap, the right side of his cranium split open and bleeding. Never before had Silva gotten his hide handed to him with such viciousness. It essentially was the beginning of the end to his magnificent career.

Number 3 » On The Ropes