#4 BJ ‘The Prodigy’ Penn vs Joe ‘Daddy’ Stevenson
The fight was for the vacant UFC Lightweight Championship at UFC 80 and both men were vying for it with equal fervour. The fight began and The Prodigy was quick to take advantage of Stevenson’s weak defence. A combination of punches landed by Penn was enough to make Daddy lose balance and then the focus shifted to the ground. Penn was on top of his ground and pound game and Stevenson fought hard to overcome it.
There were moments when they exchanged lethal blows, including some fierce display of talent from Stevenson but all that was dabbed down by a vicious elbow strike landed by Penn. The strike cut open a faucet of red and that’s when it was clear that Stevenson would have a lot of catching up to do in order to overcome the might of The Prodigy. The second round was no different and it saw BJ Penn attack right from the word go, administering brutal boxing combinations that almost blinded Joe Stevenson.
The theatre soon shifted to the ground where once again a relentless surge of attacks by Penn proved to be too much for Stevenson to endure, culminating in a rear-naked choke that forced Stevenson to submit. Totally reminiscent of a hardcore match, it was also one of the most brutal displays of power, ever.
#3 Joe ‘Thoroughbred’ Hieron vs Jonathan ‘Road Warrior’ Goulet
This fight holds the distinction of being perhaps the bloodiest fight in the history of mixed martial arts. Even Dana White got the shock of his life upon witnessing two men beat each other to a pulp inside the octagon. It was UFC Fight Night 2 when Joe ‘Thoroughbred’ Hieron, a wrestler-boxer squared off against Jonathan ‘Road Warrior’ Goulet, a lean-mean kickbox machine.
Goulet opened up Hieron with a solid knee in the second round before he landed a barrage of punches and elbows from the bottom. The cut that Hieron had suffered, started growing wider and the continuous hits to it prevented it from clotting. The fight then went to the ground and Jonathan assiduously struck Hieron’s face till the mat was coloured in a bloody crimson!
After losing a lot of blood, Hieron was hit with the knee in the third round, prompting a doctor stoppage to save whatever was left of him! Nothing gets more hardcore than this! This was akin to seeing a match between Tommy Dreamer and Sabu.
