5 Times in MMA that David beat Goliath
Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) is a sport that comprises the exhibition of fights between martial artists of different sizes and physical statures. Now although we have weight classes, particularly since the turn of the century, size mismatches are not uncommon even in modern day MMA. However, our beloved sport has time-and-again taught us that in a fight, skill and will matter just as much, if not more, than size.
Top MMA organizations such as the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), Bellator, RIZIN FF, One FC, WSOF and several others often feature fights between two combatants who might appear to the casual fan as blatant size mismatches.
Several elite fighters such as Daniel Cormier, Mark Hunt, Valentina Shevchenko and many more put on memorable performances in their respective weight classes despite being undersized against their opposition.
Our sport has witnessed several such David-Goliath matchups, characterized by the smaller fighter using his/her skill and will to slay the giants. Today we look back at a few such memorable fights-
5 DC vs Bigfoot
DC lands a huge right hand on Bigfoot. (* Credits- ZUFFA LLC).
In September of 2011, a former Olympic wrestler made a name for himself by knocking out one of the Heavyweight (HW) division’s most notorious giants of that era, Antonio ‘Bigfoot’ Silva. The Olympian’s name is Daniel ‘DC’ Cormier and he is the reigning UFC Light-heavyweight (LHW) champion and second best LHW consensus LHW fighter after arch-rival Jon Jones.
Bigfoot was riding high on his TKO victory over legendary HW Fedor Emelianenko, and entered the fight against Cormier as a huge favorite. On the other hand, DC came into the bout as a short-notice replacement, stepping in for Alistair Overeem on just 5-weeks notice.
Despite giving up a height, weight, reach and experience advantage to the Brazilian giant, DC shocked the world by knocking Silva out cold.
The fight started with DC dropping Silva with a huge right hand, which was followed by some brief ground-work with DC securing top-position on the Brazilian. They resume on the feet and DC tags him with a jab and then a left hook which is followed by a sweet sweep by the American Olympian.
The fight resumes on the feet once again and this time though, Cormier makes sure he’s finished the job, doubling up on his jab and catching Bigfoot clean with a huge right uppercut. A couple of hammer-fists on the mat and the arena in Cincinnati goes nuts with Mauro Ranallo screaming his ‘Mamma Mia’ catchphrase at the top of his lungs!
The cake and chicken-eating David slayed the Brazilian Goliath, ‘Mamma Mia’ indeed!
Up next we take a look at much more shocking size mismatches...