Sherdog's Top 10: Greatest Pride Fights

2. (Tie) Wanderlei Silva vs. Quinton Jackson | Pride 28 (Oct. 31, 2004)

Silva vs. Jackson may be the greatest rivalry in MMA history, ending in a rare 2-2 draw. Even more unusual is that Silva won the first two meetings by knockout only for Jackson to win the last two in the same manner, or that these encounters took place across three different major promotions in Pride, the UFC,and Bellator. All of their meetings were tremendous, uncompromising battles, but the best by far was their second one. Jackson had made the finals of the 2003 Middleweight (205 pound) Grand Prix, knocking out face of the UFC Chuck Liddell in the semis before being knocked out by reigning middleweight champion Silva via knees. Since then, Jackson had won two fights, a knockout of Ikuhisa Minowa and the great, cruelly forgotten Ricardo Arona, in my view the greatest slam knockout in MMA history. Silva had also won twice, beating up the same Minowa—a true glutton for punishment—as well as head-stomping Yuki Kondo into oblivion in under three minutes. Silva and Jackson were the two best 205 pounders in Pride at the time, and Jackson desperately wanted another crack at his hated rival, which Silva happily obliged.

There was no feeling out as the match began, with both men crashing into one another. They were soon in a clinch, Silva delivering hard knees as Rampage returned a few of his own while working a takedown. After a Jackson low blow, they restarted in the center. A brutal slugfest ensued, with both landing hard hooks. When Jackson clinched again, he ate several hard Silva knees that reached his chin, and then a follow-up left hook for good measure. Silva continued having his way for a while, throwing a series of hooks, close-range knees, and dirty boxing. Jackson covered up for dear life but countered at the perfect moment, walloping Silva with a right hook that clearly hurt him. Jackson used the opportunity to get a takedown, turning the tables on the Brazilian champion. From the top, he landed clubbing lefts and rights to the body. Silva threw up a nice triangle attempt, but Jackson picked him up as if going for a slam, and recalling what happened to his rival Arona, Silva relaxed his legs, allowing the American to escape. Jackson continued his ground-and-pound assault to the body, occasionally landing a big right hand upstairs. While he was doing solid work throughout, the referee decided to stand them up with two minutes remaining in the first. Not only that, but he gave a yellow card—Pride’s first warning for passivity—to both Silva and Jackson, making it the only fight on this list to earn that distinction. When they resumed, Silva started firing away, including a series of hard body kicks that clearly bothered Jackson, yet another example of how much better and more varied Silva was in his prime. However, Jackson seized his opportunity perfectly, flooring Silva with a perfect right cross to the chin. He continued abusing him with ground-and-pound, including several sickening knees to the head and a plethora of flush right hands. In fact, when the bell rang, Silva was hurt and perhaps mere moments from being knocked out.

Silva came out swinging again in Round 2, having success with a series of furious hooks and knees, but Jackson stopped the onslaught with a nice trip takedown. This time, however, Silva used a triangle attempt to push Jackson off of him and swept, landing on top for the first time in the fight. Silva scored some solid punches to the head, but without warning got up and began going for head-stomps and soccer kicks. A vicious kick got through, followed by a nasty stomp, and Jackson was clinching for dear life. He wasn't able to get the takedown, though, and they separated, with Jackson retreating, visibly tired. It was target practice for Silva, who smacked him with a few body kicks, a hard leg kick, and then scored on a jab into a right hook, prompting another Jackson clinch. After another separation, Silva soon pasted him with the biggest right hook of the fight, badly hurting Jackson. As he retreated to the ropes, Silva gave chase, getting the Thai plum and landing knee after knee to Jackson's head. Eventually, one knocked him completely unconscious and he fell over like a sack of potatoes on the lower ring ropes, his nose leaking blood like a faucet onto the canvas. A gory, iconic ending image to this classic back-and-forth affair. The nearly knocked-out Silva came back to obliterate Jackson and record the greatest triumph of his legendary career.

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