10. Kiyoshi Takamura Vs. Aliev Makhmud
This fight is enjoyable to watch only because listening to Mauro Ranallo and Bas Rutten sound like an old married couple trying to make sense of what they are seeing.
This fight, from Pride 29, took a weird turn after a low-blow that occurred a few minutes into the bout. After a delay to allow Makhmud some time to recover, the fighter from Azerbaijan appeared to wave off the fight… only nobody noticed. Sensing that nobody was going to let him quit Makhmud continued fighting for a bit, and then tried to wave off the fight again, only again nobody seemed to understand. Finally after several confusing moments someone figured out that they should ring the bell to end the fight.
It was the only professional fight of Makhmud’s career. As for Takamura, he continued fighting for 3 years after this, retiring with a 32W-13L record.
There can be no doubt that this was the slowest stoppage in MMA history.