5 times a UFC fighter was visibly intimidated by their opponent

#4. Dmitry Smoliakov vs. Greg Hardy – UFC Fight Night: Jacare vs. Hermansson

Dmitry Smoliakov looked terrified of Greg Hardy prior to their clash in 2019

When the UFC inked former NFL star Greg Hardy to a deal in the summer of 2018, despite his sketchy past, it was clear that they were going to give him a big promotional push.

‘The Prince of War’ made his UFC debut in January 2019. But he was disqualified in his fight with Allen Crowder after throwing an illegal knee to the head.

It was clear that the promotion wanted him to bounce back quickly. With that in mind, they booked him in his second fight just three months later. His opponent was Dmitry Smoliakov, a Russian heavyweight who’d lost both of his prior UFC bouts. However, he did have a lot more experience than Hardy.

But when it came to the fight, it was immediately clear who had the psychological advantage. Despite standing at 6’2” and weighing nearly 260 pounds, Smoliakov looked literally terrified of the former NFL star. It felt obvious what was about to happen next.

Sure enough, ‘The Lifeguard’ nervously avoided Hardy’s early strikes and then shot for a desperate takedown. And when ‘The Prince of War’ stuffed it and landed a straight right, the Russian was sent crashing to the ground.

A handful of punches on the mat followed, and with Smoliakov making no attempt to defend himself, the fight was stopped after just over two minutes.

In the years that have followed, Hardy has proven to be highly beatable. But it was clear in this instance that ‘The Prince of War’ was simply too intimidating for his opponent to handle.

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#3. Rich Franklin vs. Anderson Silva – UFC 64

Rich Franklin appeared to be nervous and edgy prior to his fight with Anderson Silva at UFC 64

Back in the days when each UFC event was given a catchy subtitle, UFC 64 was labelled ‘Unstoppable’. This tagline wasn’t unintentional, either. It was clearly a reference to reigning UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin.

‘Ace’ had won the UFC middleweight title from Evan Tanner at UFC 53. He had put together two impressive title defenses in the months that followed, thrashing Nate Quarry and David Loiseau. Indeed, with no clear weaknesses to his game, it looked like Franklin could hold the title for as long as he wanted.

However, UFC 64 saw him matched with Anderson Silva, who’d debuted in the UFC just months beforehand with a win over Chris Leben.

And despite only having one fight inside the octagon, ‘The Spider’ did have a formidable reputation. He’d destroyed highly regarded fighters such as Lee Murray, Jeremy Horn and Jorge Rivera prior to arriving in the UFC and gave off an air of absolute confidence.

The same air of confidence usually hung over Franklin. However, it was clear during his walk-out at UFC 64 that he wasn’t quite as amped up as he’d been for his previous title defenses.

Sporting a black eye, he looked nervous and edgy. That was particularly visible during the pre-fight staredown and even more so when he spotted Silva make the sign of the cross. Franklin responded by clasping his hands in prayer, but the gesture looked forced and only hinted further at his jangling nerves.

Sure enough, when the fight began, ‘Ace’ simply didn’t get out of first gear. An attempt at clinching with Silva went horribly wrong and ‘The Spider’ abused him with knees from the Thai clinch, finishing him off inside the first round.

In all honesty, as we found out at UFC 77 in their rematch, Silva was always a bad match for Franklin. But had ‘Ace’ come into this one less intimidated, he may well have put up a far better fight than he was able to.