Boxing and MMA naturally bring forward strong sporting rivalries, from professionals who respect one another to bitter foes who just want to crush their adversary. Here are four of the best.
Ali versus Frazier
It’s decades since Muhammad Ali, arguably the greatest boxer the world has ever seen, went toe-to-toe with Joe Frazier on three epic occasions, and still many fans of martial arts contemplating the best sports rivalries think that Muhammed Ali versus Joe Frazier is one of them. Muhammad Ali was the most charismatic of men, but personal charm did not stop him being refused boxing licenses for declining to be inducted into the armed forces. His conviction was overturned on appeal but the exile had cost him years in the ring. But when he came back, it was with a bang.
Joe Frazier was no journeyman, and when he agreed to fight Ali both men were undefeated. Touted as the Fight of the Century, the bout was contested in Madison Square Garden. There were verbal jabs thrown before the match even began, with Frazier using Ali’s discarded name of Clay, and Ali slamming Frazier as a tool of the white establishment. Come the fight, Frazier jabbed and weaved, repeatedly getting in good hits in contrast to Ali’s normal dominance. The two were level-pegging. Ali got knocked down in the final round, and although he got back to his feet the judges’ verdict was unanimous: Frazier won.
The same venue hosted the 1974 rematch between Ali and Frazier and was the only match between the men who did not have a title on the line. A visit to ABC studios pre-fight saw the two men go at each other and receive fines for their misconduct, although a later meeting at The Dick Cavett Show was more good-humored. In the fight, Ali was more aggressive from the bell, taking advantage of Frazier’s slow-starting ways. Ali ended up winning by a unanimous decision.
Ali and Frazier met again in 1975 for the Thrilla in Manila. Hosted in Quezon City, the fight received a global record audience of one billion people. Ali started fast, again, but it was Frazier landing the most punches in the middle of the match. Yet he started to tire, allowing Ali to finish strongly. When Frazier’s eyes were swollen shut after repeated punishment, Ali won by TKO.
Shamrock versus Ortiz
We shift to the world of MMA for our next entry on the top sports rivalries list: Ken Shamrock and Tito Ortiz. Over a three-year period, Ortiz defended his UFC Light Heavyweight Championship on no fewer than five occasions, and one of the men that tried and failed to get the better of him was Ken Shamrock. In 2006, the two men were coaches on The Ultimate Fighter 3 reality TV series. After the series concluded, one of the earliest UFC bouts the two men fought was against one another, with Ortiz taking a first-round TKO victory and prompting a rematch to be immediately scheduled.
Yet again, Ortiz had the advantage, taking another first-round TKO victory and making it three victories over his rival. But why did the two dislikes one another to begin with? It goes back to 1999 when Ortiz gave the finger to Shamrock’s corner after beating Guy Mezger (from Shamrock’s Lion’s Den gym). Not only that, the end of The Ultimate Fighter saw a verbal sparring match between the two men almost turn physical. And Ortiz’s first-round TKO victory in the second bout against Shamrock was controversial, with some questioning whether it was a legitimate win.
Rousey versus Tate
In the modern-day, equal opportunities are the name of the game, and ladies can pack quite a wallop. And when it comes to the fairer sex, it’s hard to find a more ferocious sporting rivalry than that of Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate. Rousey is one of the few UFC big names to be recognizable even by people not into MMA, and that’s due in large part to her tenacious, and record-breaking, six defenses of a UFC title. She was also the first woman to be inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame.
The rivalry dates back to the Strikeforce era of Rousey’s career when she lost weight in order to be able to take on Tate in a match to determine the Women’s Bantamweight Champion. In 2012, Rousey won a first-round submission (by armbar), dislocating Tate’s elbow into the bargain. She went on to break new ground as the first female UFC fighter and in 2013 had a rematch with Tate in UFC 168. Rousey tried to repeat the armbar but this time it was Tate who emerged victorious, turning the tables to make Rousey submit to her own armbar.
In the end, it was Holly Holm who inflicted a telling defeat on Rousey and marked the beginning of the end of her career.
Fury versus Wilder
One of the most recent of big-name sporting rivalries may still have some way to go yet, but Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder have already met in the ring thrice. Considered by many to be one of, if not the, best heavyweight boxer in the world today, Fury is not a shrinking violet, and many of his most headline-grabbing episodes have included his multiple fights with rival Wilder. After winning and losing world titles earlier in his career, Fury was on the march to reclaim his crown. And Deontay Wilder was standing in the way.
In their first encounter, in 2018, the two men fought for the WBC heavyweight title, held at the time by Wilder. It was an intense, 12 round match that ended with a split decision draw. The crowd jeered the decision, but it stood all the same. It seemed Fury was more dominant generally, but Wilder did knock him down twice. However, the controversial draw set things up nicely for a rematch.
In 2020, the rematch was held, Fury heavier than before and looking to land bigger blows. Fury started strong and floored Wilder in the third round, repeating the feat in the fifth. Partway through the seventh round, Wilder’s corner threw in the towel, and Fury had his victory. He also had a plethora of titles, becoming the first boxer to hold the WBA (Super), WBC, IBF, WBO, and The Ring magazine titles all at once. October 2021 saw the pair clash one more time. Both men knocked down the other, but once more Fury proved the stronger, knocking out Wilder in the eleventh round. Will there be a fourth encounter?
And that brings us to the end of our quartet of fantastic sporting rivalries from the boxing and MMA worlds. It remains to be seen whether the Wilder and Fury story is over, so keep your eyes peeled for fight number four.
