Previewing and Predicting Every Potential MMA Superfight
The Superfight: it’s a term used so often these days that it’s become a novelty.
In theory, it identifies a bout that is designed to bring two fantastic fighters together in a clash that speaks to the best aspects of their relative skills and styles.
In boxing, it has often been used to identify bouts that could never happen: Muhammad Ali versus Mike Tyson, Sugar Ray Robinson versus Floyd Mayweather Jr., Roberto Duran versus Manny Pacquiao.
But in the sport of MMA, it is used to describe the dreamlike quality of fights that, while perhaps improbable, are not impossible: Jose Aldo versus Anthony Pettis, for instance.
Or the previously ballyhooed Georges St. Pierre versus Anderson Silva.
It’s the proverbial “White whale” of the sport, and no matter how many times such bouts are rumored, only to fail to be actualized, the term endures because there are always new fighters rising to the top; new fights that could answer the question: “Who would win if…”
As fighters fight to answer that question, fans and pundits ponder and posit in the absence of these rarest of occurrences. We question and debate who would win in a bout between two fighters that are so good that they remain nearly untouchable by anyone save perhaps another of their untouchable ilk.
No matter what criteria you favor, you know the fights in question, as we all do. While Anderson Silva may no longer have the title, much of the Superfight debate has been built upon his name and that honestly has not changed.
Even though he lost two in a row to Chris Weidman, he is still thought to be the best because great fighters are not the sum total of their defeats. Muhammad Ali lost to Leon Spinks, when the latter had just eight professional fights, yet even after their bout, no one doubted Ali would be remembered as the greater fighter.
So, we ponder the obvious inclusions, as we always have; this time, we include them all, in one place and at one time. In fact, we will also include one boxing bout—Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao—simply because it has been debated at length in many MMA discussions, which is of no surprise; it is the gold standard for incredible fights that should have been made yet never were.
In theory, it identifies a bout that is designed to bring two fantastic fighters together in a clash that speaks to the best aspects of their relative skills and styles.
In boxing, it has often been used to identify bouts that could never happen: Muhammad Ali versus Mike Tyson, Sugar Ray Robinson versus Floyd Mayweather Jr., Roberto Duran versus Manny Pacquiao.
But in the sport of MMA, it is used to describe the dreamlike quality of fights that, while perhaps improbable, are not impossible: Jose Aldo versus Anthony Pettis, for instance.
Or the previously ballyhooed Georges St. Pierre versus Anderson Silva.
As fighters fight to answer that question, fans and pundits ponder and posit in the absence of these rarest of occurrences. We question and debate who would win in a bout between two fighters that are so good that they remain nearly untouchable by anyone save perhaps another of their untouchable ilk.
No matter what criteria you favor, you know the fights in question, as we all do. While Anderson Silva may no longer have the title, much of the Superfight debate has been built upon his name and that honestly has not changed.
Even though he lost two in a row to Chris Weidman, he is still thought to be the best because great fighters are not the sum total of their defeats. Muhammad Ali lost to Leon Spinks, when the latter had just eight professional fights, yet even after their bout, no one doubted Ali would be remembered as the greater fighter.
So, we ponder the obvious inclusions, as we always have; this time, we include them all, in one place and at one time. In fact, we will also include one boxing bout—Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao—simply because it has been debated at length in many MMA discussions, which is of no surprise; it is the gold standard for incredible fights that should have been made yet never were.
