The 5 Worst MMA Fights in History | Easily Explained

by Martial Arts Insider

In this page, we will go over the worst MMA fights that have occurred in history, along with what made them the worst fights.

Table of Contents

  1. Kimbo Slice vs Dada 5000
  2. Yumiko Hotta vs Gabi Garcia
  3. Anderson Silva vs Demian Maia
  4. Derrick Lewis vs Francis Ngannou
  5. Kimbo Slice vs Ken Shamrock

What Makes For a Bad Fight?

  • Lackluster action
  • A lack of aggressiveness
  • Bad technique whether striking, wrestling or grappling
  • Strategic game plans
  • Both fighters containing bad cardio
  • Fighters fighting past their prime

Or a combination of all of the above. Any of these factors can quickly make for a boring fight, and/or not the best quality fight in general.

1. Kimbo Slice vs Dada 5000

The lead up to this fight had fans very interested in how this fight would play out, specifically from the press conference.

Both fighters traded personal insults at each other and it was obvious that they have been wanting to fight for years.

However in the actual fight, everything that could go wrong, did go wrong.

Although their rivalry had been brewing for several years, by the time they met in the octagon, they were several years past their prime.

Immediately after the fight began, both fighters inexplicably gassed out and the rest of the fight, it seemed like they were fighting in slow motion.

To make matters worse, the fight actually ended without a punch landing, but one of the fighters gassing out so hard that he could no longer stand.

 

 

Joe Rogan even had some unfiltered thoughts about the fight.

After the fight, Dada 5000 was rushed to the hospital where it was announced that his heart had stopped at one point, but fortunately they were able to revive him.

2. Yumiko Hotta vs Gabi Garcia

One of the most bizarre fights in the history of MMA started the day the fight it was announced.

Gabi Garcia stands at 6 ft 2, 236 lbs, and her opponent Yumiko Hotta stands at 5 ft 6, 160 lbs.

Not to mention, Hotta was 49 years old at the time of the fight.

Anyways, the fight started and Hotta started executing her WWE strategy, which was to make her way to each side of the ropes, and bounce off of them until eventually going for a punch off of the ropes.

This strategy would not work out too well for Hotta as she would be stopped in 49 seconds.

3. Anderson Silva vs Demian Maia

Although Anderson Silva is widely regarded as one of the best Mixed Martial Artists of all time, he was involved in some shockingly boring fights.

Originally scheduled to fight vs knockout artist Vitor Belfort in a widely anticipated striking battle, his replacement opponent ended up being submission specialist Demian Maia.

Silva outclassed Maia in the first several rounds, but when the fans became agitated was the moment that Silva began to taunt and clown Maia, even slapping the mat at times.

Silva had several opportunities to finish the fight, but rather than pouncing on the opportunity, he was more interested in staying back and taunting his opponent.

Dana White was so infuriated by this performance that by round 4 he gave Silva's belt to Silva's manager (to put it on him after the fight).

After the fight White explained that this was his lowest moment as the president of the UFC, and if Silva were to ever do this again, he would immediately cut him regardless of his status in the UFC.

 

4. Derrick Lewis vs Francis Ngannou

Two of the most powerful and the most heavy handed heavyweights in the history of the sport facing off, what could go wrong?

Well, it turns out that a lot.

Lewis had apparently been dealing with a back injury, while Ngannou was inexplicably timid. To be fair, Ngannou had just been defeated in a five round bout by Stipe Miocic, where Ngannou had gassed out pretty quickly into the fight.

This brought a long a very lackluster affair, where at one point neither fighter threw a punch for several minutes.

Lewis ended up edging out a decision with landing a whopping 20 strikes vs Ngannou's 11.

That's an average of 6 strikes a round! You read that correctly... Not a minute, a round.

5. Kimbo Slice vs Ken Shamrock

This was another bizarre fight. The fight began by the 51 year old Ken Shamrock (2-7 in his last 9 bouts) being able to take Slice down and gain control.

Shamrock had the perfect positioning and at one point had locked in a rear naked choke, until he inexplicably lost the hold.

Slice was then able to get up, and land a mountain of right hands to knock Shamrock out.

Many fans were justifiable confused, and could not comprehend how Shamrock lost that position.

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