Biggest upsets in combat sports

Was reading an article online earlier and the chap that wrote it claimed that Bader beating Ramplod ranked among the biggest upsets, not just in MMA but in ALL of combat sports.

Given that Ramplod is years past his best and hasn't looked impressive at all since KOing Wandi and even then, he didn't look great up until Wandi hung his chin, and Ramplod came in over weight and with an injury, I don't think it was an upset.

For me, by far the biggest upset in combat sports history was Bob Sapp beating Ernesto Hoost in their first fight. Hoost is arguably the greatest kickboxer of all time, Sapp is an embarrassment to all of professional sports.

Anyone got a bigger upset than that?

What about GSP getting beaten by Matt Serra????

Hoost vs Sapp is a great shout although I do think Sapp's size was a big factor in those wins. Personally I can't think of anything bigger than Buster Douglas stopping Mike Tyson that seems like the benchmark for me.

GSP v Serra would be up there.

Rahmann KOing Lewis also springs to mind.

But Sapp beating Hoost (twice!!??) has to take the cake. How the hell did that ever happen? Mind boggling.

For Combat Sports it surely has to be Buster Douglas beating Tyson, purely because of the odds you could have got on Douglas winning.

As for MMA, I would probably go for GSP and Serra too. The odds at one point were -1300 for GSP and +850 for Serra, that's insane.

What were the odds on Gonzaga not only beating Mirko, not only stopping him, but knocking him out with a left high kick!

Tito beating Bader
Lauzon beating Pulver
Werdum beating Fedor

Are all other ones that havn't been mentioned so far, don't think they are on the same par as Serra or Douglas or Sapp though.

Sokoudjou/Lil Nog, and Mercer/Sylvia too. For womens MMA I think V Hajime beating Yuka Tsuji has got to be the biggest.

For Boxing Tyson/Douglas was already mentioned. Wasnt Tyson/Douglas like 50-1? That's pretty insane. Ali was also a heavy underdog vs Foreman and Liston, and Leonard vs Hagler, but I think theyre more worthy of note for historic value rather than just upsetting the odds.

Hunt winning the K1GP was pretty remarkable

The_Axe_Emperor wrote:What were the odds on Gonzaga not only beating Mirko, not only stopping him, but knocking him out with a left high kick!

Dunno, but considering he knocked him out with a right high kick, you'd have lost your money.

Anfields5thKing wrote:

The_Axe_Emperor wrote:What were the odds on Gonzaga not only beating Mirko, not only stopping him, but knocking him out with a left high kick!

Dunno, but considering he knocked him out with a right high kick, you'd have lost your money.

Anfields5thKing wrote:

The_Axe_Emperor wrote:What were the odds on Gonzaga not only beating Mirko, not only stopping him, but knocking him out with a left high kick!

Dunno, but considering he knocked him out with a right high kick, you'd have lost your money.

Shit, so he did haha! I've always thought it was a left. My bad!

Still high kick KO, was pretty unexpected.

Completely unexpected. I didn't think Gonzaga would even be capable of throwing a head kick.

It's between GSP vs Serra and Hoost vs Sapp. Even as a GSP fanboy I think Sapp beating Hoost is more a shock. Serra is a good fighter, Bob Sapp is arguably the biggest joke in the history of sports. To beat one of the all time greats TWICE is really just quite unbelievable, in fact I'm not certain Hoost didn't take a fall.

Anyone seen this?

When Serra beat GSP, GSP was still seen as a young exciting fighter. He wasn't rated close to the greats, so whilst it was a shock, don't think it was Hoost-Sapp level.

Douglas VS Tyson obviously a huge shock, the odds on that fight were insane.

p4pnumber_1 wrote:Tito beating Bader
Lauzon beating Pulver
Werdum beating Fedor

Are all other ones that havn't been mentioned so far, don't think they are on the same par as Serra or Douglas or Sapp though.

While it was a shock at the time, when you consider Pulver has gone 4-10 since that loss it's really not that much of a shock. Certainly not big enough to be rated among the biggest ever.

Werdum beating Fedor was a huge shock though, that could be considered up there. Same with Bigfoot beating Fedor.

Seth Petruzelli vs Kimbo, by far.

Not the biggest shock but one of my favourite fighters of the time

Carl Thompson beating David Haye, not many so called experts predicted that one.

James Braddock vs Baer?

I have only watched the early Pride events at a later date, but how a big a shock was Sakuraba vs Royce Gracie?? or was it not that big a surprise at the time?

people keep bringing up Sapp-Hoost but you have to remember thant Sapp wasn't close to a joke in 2002. He wasn't tapping to strikes and had just nearly killed Nogueira in MMA a few months earlier

Ernesto Hoost is the greatest kickboxer of all time. Sapp had had two fights and was 1-1 going into it. Hoost was expected to destroy him.

still, people keep saying he's a joke etc. Just pointing out that in 2002 he wasn't. Funny though that Hoost won the K1GP despite losing to Sapp in that tourney

Hoost = Much better than Mike Tyson
Sapp = Much worse than Buster Douglas

MMA's biggest upset for me was Hunt beating Wanderlei. This was a 1-1 fat man going in there with the top Lhw and a top 3 p4p fighter then.

Wand was on a 18 fight spree, Beating Mezger, Saku x3, Hendo, Tamura, Rampage and if not for an the rules specifing no finish nobody wins would have beat Crocop insted of drawing. Now beat in Mind that Crocop has kicked the shit out of Hunt only 2 years before he fought Wanderlei.... so you would imagine if he can beat Crocop in a fight tailored to Crocops stillset he should hammer the 1-1 Rookie hunt in a straight up MMA fight?

Seemed to most that it would be a walk in the park for Wandy. For me that was a bigger upset than anything we have seen in MMA so far. Serra was ranked when he beat GSP, Werdum was ranked when he beat Fedor. Hunt wasnt really on the map at all when he fought Wanderlei who was on top of the Lhw devision when it was full of superstars in their prime.

I know what you're saying Ben but I think you also have to consider Wandi is a natural MW and Hunt is a SHW. It was also a close Split decision if memory serves me correctly.

Sapp beating Hoost is like Andy Wang beating BJ Penn and he did it twice. We are talking about the greatest kick boxer of all time against a guy who has a losing record in kickboxing, is 11-11 in MMA, cries in fights and taps to strikes and take downs regularly. Before beating Hoost he was 1-1 in kick boxing and 2-1 in MMA with his wins coming over a WW and a guy who has a 14-23 record. Biggest upset ever in anything.

ChelseaQuinsfan wrote:

Sapp beating Hoost is like Andy Wang beating BJ Penn

How dare you mock Andy Wang!?! He's a warrior!

Anfields5thKing wrote:

ChelseaQuinsfan wrote:

Sapp beating Hoost is like Andy Wang beating BJ Penn

How dare you mock Andy Wang!?! He's a warrior!

I'll never tire of watching that video, best thing to come out of TUF!

The last 5 seconds of it make me laugh every time with BJ's mocking after Wang's "they see a warrior" statement.