Ranking Biggest UFC Upsets

[Captain_Dammitt]

I have:

1. Serra/GSP
2. Holm/Rousey
3. Rockhold/Bisping
4. Strickland/Adesanya
5. Weidman/Silva
6. Nunes/Pena
7. Diaz/McGregor
8. Dillashaw/Barao

What does everyone else have?

Strickland beating Adesanya would be higher but Rockhold had already dominated Bisping so I have it higher for that reason.

 

[ArtardFiesta]

instead of ranking them we should appreciate what they offered.

for me serra/gsp was a surprise. serra was an undersized burnout tuf comeback winner. gsp had just dominated long time champion matt hughes and was expected to go on a huge run. serra winning was such a surprise.
gsp did go on to have his dominate run but it was such a shock and brought on the doubters until gsp humiliated bj penn a second time.


strickland vs izzy is different because he dominated izzy at his own game. no one expeted this. the guy used defense and a 1-2 and beat a guy that looked like a modern bruce lee. it looked like a tough guy at the bar took out bruce lee. there were guys watching it last night that wnet home thinking they could beat ufc fighters.

bisping and rockhold was an upset. you realized it was a fluke but at the same time you could be happy for bisping, he put in a lot of work and it seemed like a "you deserve it" moment.

 

[JudoThrowFiasco]

GSP / Serra was basically a movie script. Undersized journeyman enters a contest under a promotional gimmick and ends up beating a jacked young champion many regarded the best talent in mma at the time.

 

[Captain_Dammitt]

instead of ranking them we should appreciate what they offered.

for me serra/gsp was a surprise. serra was an undersized burnout tuf comeback winner. gsp had just dominated long time champion matt hughes and was expected to go on a huge run. serra winning was such a surprise.
gsp did go on to have his dominate run but it was such a shock and brought on the doubters until gsp humiliated bj penn a second time.


strickland vs izzy is different because he dominated izzy at his own game. no one expeted this. the guy used defense and a 1-2 and beat a guy that looked like a modern bruce lee. it looked like a tough guy at the bar took out bruce lee. there were guys watching it last night that wnet home thinking they could beat ufc fighters.

bisping and rockhold was an upset. you realized it was a fluke but at the same time you could be happy for bisping, he put in a lot of work and it seemed like a "you deserve it" moment.

I never watched one of these upsets and felt sad or... upset. Seeing these moments always makes you feel something. Bisping winning the title is one of my, probably, top 5 moments in the sport. I'm an Izzy fan but I also love Strickland's personality so seeing him win was fun. There are worse people Izzy could have lost to.

 

[DS66]

I think Dillashaw/Barao needs to be higher, people forget how insane that was (likely due to hindsight because of how their careers went afterwards).

Barao was riding one of the craziest winning streaks in MMA history. 32 W's in a row. Was coming off an amazing performance dominating and finishing Urijah Faber in round 1. Considered one of, if not the, best pound for pounder fighters in the world at that point. And then there was Dillashaw, who was pretty munch unknown and wasn't supposed to be anywhere near a title shot. He got the shot just cause Barao's opponent dropped out and Dillashaw was a 135er already on the card. UFC gave him the fight in desparation to save the card. Nobody gave him any chance at all. And he goes out there and dominates Barao with an unbelievable performance. It truly was an incredible upset and moment in UFC history that is often overlooked.

 

[Clark Rogers]

GSP / Serra was basically a movie script. Undersized journeyman enters a contest under a promotional gimmick and ends up beating a jacked young champion many regarded the best talent in mma at the time.

This.

And I have Weidman vs Silva at 2 or 3. GSP vs Serra is #1, Rousey vs Holm and Anderson vs Weidman are like 2A and 2B on my list.

Those 3 had the best stories, context, etc imo.

Vegas may disagree but this one is just meh on my list of all time upsets, perhaps because Izzy has just recently shown himself to be beatable. Most of those other examples were looking pretty damn unbreakable prior to their losses.

 

[The Accuser]

There is a difference between catching someone and thoroughly dominating the favorite.

This is why Strickland was more of an upset than Serra. IMO it was also more of an upset than Holly because Izzy is much more legit than Ronda.

 

[IncreaseDanaPay]

Holy was like +1000 underdog against rousey as far as betting goes. But Sean beating Izzy and Leon beating Usman is up there

 

[Captain_Dammitt]

Holy was like +1000 underdog against rousey as far as betting goes. But Sean beating Izzy and Leon beating Usman is up there

Forgot about Leon and Usman but IDK if I would consider that one of the biggest of all time. Maybe just outside the top 10.

 

[jjjjjjjjjjohnny]

good list - i do see Strickland on par with Bisping.

 

[Fergelmince]

If you go by betting odds, it looks like this:

https://www.forbes.com/betting/sports-betting/biggest-ufc-odds-upsets/

1. Shana Dobson (+950) def. Mariya Agapova (-1400)
2. Holly Holm (+830) def. Ronda Rousey (-1400)
3. Matt Serra (+850) def. Georges St-Pierre (-1300)
4. Julianna Peña (+700) def. Amanda Nunes (-1125)
5. Mike Jackson (+700) def. Dean Barry (-1100)
6. T.J. Dillashaw (+650) def. Renan Barao (-1000)
7. Frankie Edgar (+588) def. B.J. Penn (-900)
8. Rose Namajunas (+500) def. Joanna Jędrzejczyk (-700)
9. Michael Bisping (+450) def. Luke Rockhold (-600)
10. Gabriel Gonzaga (+400) def. Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic (-500)

 

[DarthChen731]

Strickland made Izzy look pedestrian which is pretty insane. The other fights on that list were pretty fast finishes or sudden comeback killshots.


PS: Jones/Shogun should be somewhere on this list, I don't think anyone expected THAT beating. Maybe not an upset but like... damn bro.

 

[Nobru]

I have:

1. Serra/GSP
2. Holm/Rousey
3. Rockhold/Bisping
4. Strickland/Adesanya
5. Weidman/Silva
6. Nunes/Pena
7. Diaz/McGregor
8. Dillashaw/Barao

What does everyone else have?

Strickland beating Adesanya would be higher but Rockhold had already dominated Bisping so I have it higher for that reason.

I dont get how Izzy x Sean is that high on the list.
TBH, the only results from all these 8 fights that really surprised me were Serra/GSP and Nunes/Pena.

 

[pater13anthemios]

Pena vs Nunez 1?
I think its bigger upset than Ronda