Sherdog’s Top 10: New Year’s Eve Fights

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1. Anderson Silva vs. Ryo Chonan
Pride “Shockwave 2004” | Dec. 31, 2004

When Pride’s 2004 New Year’s Eve extravaganza was announced, the assumption was that Fedor Emelianenko and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira were fighting for history. Instead, it was the unlikely Chonan who turned in one of this sport’s most indelible, breathtaking highlights against the man who would eventually come to be seen as the greatest ever -- Silva.

The context of the bout somehow seems irrelevant now given the mythic nature of the finish. Make no mistake, however, this was high-stakes MMA. The charismatic and violent Chonan debuted in the Pride Bushido series with a spirited defeat to then-top middleweight Ricardo Almeida before hammering former UFC champion Carlos Newton when that was still an accomplishment. Meanwhile, Silva was coming off of notable wins over Jeremy Horn and Lee Murray, but his high-profile split with the powerful Chute Boxe team had left him in a political no man’s land with Pride. Silva had not fought in Pride for 18 months before the Chonan bout, and it seemed he could not afford to slip up.

“The Spider” started hot, tagging Chonan with punches and kicks before getting his back for several minutes, threatening the rear-naked choke. When Chonan reversed and gained top position, he hammered away in workmanlike fashion on the Brazilian. When they exchanged on the feet, it was more even sledding than one would imagine. Silva had not refined his striking with Diogenes Assahida, Daniel Woirin, Josuel Distak and the other coaches with whom he would come to work; Chonan showed a particular aggression on the feet that is simply impossible to fathom against Silva in the present day.

Who was actually winning the fight before its dramatic conclusion is to this day a popular topic of MMA debate. Chonan spent more time on top and landed some good licks standing, but the most outstanding offensive maneuvers of the fight were Silva’s. With Pride’s infamously erratic judging, who knows what would have happened if this fight had hit the cards.

With just less than two minutes to fight, Chonan was fighting off Silva’s reach by circling and attacking with leg kicks. As Silva got in close again and tried to stick out his jab, Chonan dove into a video game-esque leg-scissor takedown on Silva’s right leg, landing on the mat in perfect position for an inverted heel hook that he instantly cranked for the tap. It was sudden. It was thrilling. It was poetic. It was a prizefighting and martial arts highlight reel moment for the ages.

After that infamous victory, Chonan regressed, settling into a role as a fun-but-middling middleweight and welterweight, bouncing around Pride, the UFC and Deep. For Silva, the crushing defeat ended up being a blessing in disguise, as the Brazilian was effectively ousted from Pride. After switching up his training routine, Silva took to Britain’s Cage Rage 185-pound division and honed his striking into perhaps the deadliest artillery MMA has seen to date. Given the strange, thrilling and extravagant nature of MMA on New Year’s Eve in Japan, it seems fitting that an eternally scintillating highlight reel upset could set in motion the events that would give us the greatest MMA champion ever.

In the eight years since Chonan-Silva was immortalized in .gif form, we have been given countless unforgettable MMA highlights. However, even the greatest highlights do not compete with Chonan-Silva; they can only join its echelon.

Honorable Mentions: Genki Sudo-Eric Esch; Lyoto Machida-Rich Franklin; Ricardo Arona-Wanderlei Silva 2; Royce Gracie-Hideo Tokoro; Melvin Manhoef-Mark Hunt