2. Matt Hughes vs. Frank Trigg II
The manner in which Hughes came back from adversity in his second title fight with Frank Trigg at UFC 52 in 2005 has lived long in the memory. It remains Dana White’s favorite UFC fight.
Hughes had submitted Trigg in their first outing. But early in the opening round of the rematch, he was just trying to survive after the challenger landed an illegal knee to the groin that the referee didn’t see. Trigg followed it up with big punches that dropped Hughes to the mat. Trigg unleashed ground and pound and moved to full mount. He then took Hughes’ back, before looking to finish with a rear-naked choke.
The champion had won 15 of his last 16 fights but was on the verge of being defeated. Suddenly he escaped and got on top of Trigg. Almost immediately, Hughes hoisted Trigg up onto his shoulder, charged across the Octagon, and slammed him to the mat on the other side as the crowd roared. Vicious ground elbows followed, forcing Trigg to give up his back. That enabled Hughes to slide his arm under the neck and claim his famous rear-naked choke victory and a historic comeback.
