The greatest trilogies in MMA history

Even if the sport of MMA is still considered to be among the younger sports, there have been a raft of unforgettable moments that left the fans at the edge of their seats.

Among them, trilogy fights have had a special place at the heart of these momentous events since watching them proved to be a true joy to behold.

That is to say, trilogies are not sort of conventional rivalries since their buzz becomes unfathomable when some senses of drama and conflict are added to the fights. In other words, often with having two fighters with each having one triumph over the other, trilogies are nothing than exciting.

Not to mention that when it takes years to develop these fights, there lies a great story behind them, bringing up memorable storylines along the way, with each encounter making the drama produced by the previous result.

It goes without saying that a mutual personal hostility is an ultimate scenario that makes every trilogy breathtakingly terrific. This blend of drama, mind-blowing tension inside the cage, as well as its conflict always arouse emotions almost in all MMA supporters.

The greatest trilogies in MMA history

Here we dig deep through the List of UFC trilogies as well as some of the Best MMA Trilogies to elaborate on them as exquisitely as possible. Sportmob hopes you enjoy the current list of The greatest trilogies in MMA history as much as the authors did putting it together.

Shinya Aoki vs. Joachim Hansen

Shinya Aoki and Joachim Hansen for the first time coped with each other in PRIDE Shockwave 2006 on Dec. 31, 2006, when Aoki who is one of the

managed to hit a gogoplata in the fight.

In their second encounter that occurred in DREAM 5 (July 21, 2008) of the promotion lightweight grand Prix, Hansen successfully got his avenge on Aoki so as to be become the lightweight champion by chance.

Since he participated in this fight in replacement of injured Eddie Alvarez just on the day of the fight, he was a big underdog in the cage, yet having learned enough from their first fight, he managed to chastise Aoki from topside for the finish.

What has made their confronts earn a spot among

the greatest trilogies in MMA history

is undoubtedly their third fight that was DREAM 11 (Oct. 6, 2009), in which even though Hansen put on show his development with the passage of time, especially when he employed more leg attacks to either entangle or make space, he failed to beat his tough rival.

After all, Aoki is one of

, so as it was predicted, in the light of his crafty footwork, he avoided Hansen's explosive range and gained the clinch so as to secure his armbar and hip-toss Hansen to the mat.

Wanderlei Silva vs Quinton Rampage Jackson

At the time when, PRIDE was filled with the Saitama Super Arena, having tens of thousands of fans regularly, with outselling UFC events quite easily, the epic encounter between Wanderlei Silva vs Quinton Rampage Jackson was the crown jewel of the PRIDE's fights.

The Silva vs Jackson trilogy is highly revered as one of The greatest trilogies in MMA history, perhaps because there was a special animosity between them all of their own.

That is to say, whenever they met each other, there was a rush of blood spilt along the way, while both of the warriors have had some of the most frightening stares down faces in MMA to the point that they have already grabbed their spot in Sportmob's list of

.

While Jackson was recognized in PRIDE for slamming fighters with canvas shaking power and starching them with monster hooks, Silva tended to be unstoppable in his vicious power punches and knees so as to make his victim utterly motionless.

With these in mind, there is no way that their insane battles could be excluded from our list of the

best MMA trilogies

as they have put on show some of the most terrific showdowns of violence ever observed in combat sports.

Even if Silva grabbed triumph over Jackson in their first two encounters at the PRIDE with a rush of knees, in their third fight in the UFC, Jackson did a 180-degree turn.

While Silva was being slower and his power was waning, Jackson had still left enough in the gas tank to crack Silva with a counter left hook and then two more punches, making his opponent something beyond unconscious to earn the victory in their memorable third match at UFC 92.

Fedor Emelianenko vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira

The trilogy fights between Fedor Emelianenko and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira is what has earned The Last Emperor a cemented place among

.

After all, it is no wonder to see the fights between two MMA giants prove to be among

The 10 Greatest Trilogies in MMA

, when apart from Emelianenko, Nogueria has already taken a spot among

.

Being highly regarded as a jiu-jitsu monster in the late PRIDE promotion, Nogueria had the capability to submit anyone who dared to go to the ground with him.

Yet, to the fans' great surprise, the great Emelianenko, not only had the gut to cope with Nogueria at the prime heyday of his career, but also he succeeded to grab triumph by establishing dominance in their first match.

In what turned out to be an incredible sight to see, Nogueria sustained a back injury so as to fell short on the cards.

While in their second encounter he appeared to perform better, his accidental headbutt resulted in a fight-ending cut on Emelianenko, and their match was rendered into no contest.

Amazingly in their third brawl, Emelianenko pounded Nogueria for a competitive, yet clear unanimous decision to come out on top in what is highly heralded as one of the Best MMA Trilogies.

Stipe Miocic vs. Daniel Cormier

The list of

The greatest trilogies in MMA history

would be incomplete without the presence of the heavyweight encounters between Stipe Miocic and Daniel Cormier.

For the first time, they coped with each other at UFC 226 in July 2018 when Cormier was the reigning light-heavyweight champion.

This is while Miocic who is also included in our list of the

, was on a seven-fight winning streak, before heading into the fight as he had come off a powerful title defence against Francis Ngannou.

The warriors put on show a back and forth battle for more than four minutes until Cormier managed to catch Miocic with a wonderful right hand from the clinch to grab a knockout triumph late in the first round.

With this victory, Cormier also picked up the honour to become just the second fighter in UFC history to be a champion in two weight classes at the same time, just as he joined Conor McGregor who made the feat in 2016.

With this knockout victory, Cormier won a Performance of the Night bonus and interestingly Miocic did the same when he took revenge for that loss.

That is to say, in their rematch that took place at UFC 241 more than 13 months following their first encounter, even if Cormier has a staggering speed advantage over Miocic earlier in the fight, it was Miocic who won their second encounter.

In other words, Cormier lifted Miocic over his head, and even slammed him to the canvas confidently just like how he has done with almost all of his previous rivals, so as to be ahead of his rival on all three judges’ scorecards at the end of the third round.

Yet, Miocic managed to catch him with some heavy shots and gained momentum in the third stanza in order to begin making a concerted attempt to strike left hooks to the body around two minutes into the fourth round.

Miocic went on to repeatedly target Cormier’s midsection in so far as to drain his gas tank and exercise headshots. He constantly followed up the left hooks to the body with a one-two combination as he ended up landing flush.

It seems that Miocic had underestimated Cormier’s power in the first fight and Cormier underestimated Miocic’s stamina in their rematch.

Likewise, their encounter found its way to be included on the

List of UFC Trilogies

, in which Miocic successfully grabbed a unanimous decision victory over Daniel Cormier at UFC 252 in Las Vegas, by scoring 49-46 49-46 and 48-47.

It is notable to indicate that with Miocic poking Cormier in the eye accidentally late in the third round, Cormier was blind in his left eye for the rest of the two rounds.

Tito Ortiz vs. Forest Griffin

Tito Ortiz who is widely regarded as one of the

coped with Forest Griffin for the first time in 2006 at UFC 59.

Back then, Ortiz was at the pinnacle of his career while Forest Griffin was a new face in the game and therefore was a sort of underdog in their first match.

Yet, in spite of his lack of experience, he proved to be a tough rival for Ortiz, but eventually, much to the chagrin of many fans, it was Ortiz who grabbed a close split decision victory.

After the passage of three years, their rematch took place at UFC 106, where this time Griffin avenged his prior defeat and took home a close split decision in what was believed to be less close than their first fight.

The pair fought in their trilogy at UFC 148, where Ortiz managed to drop Griffin on two occasions in his last UFC fight. Yet it was Griffin who had more activity and established dominance in the action so as to win another decision victory.

While each of these three decisions could have gone either way, the competitive nature of their encounters made to be considered among The 10 Greatest Trilogies in MMA.

B.J. Penn vs. Matt Hughes

B.J. Penn and Matt Hughes's first fight occurred on Jan. 31, 2004, at UFC 46 where the 155-pound Penn just stepped into the octagon to cope with Welterweight Champion Matt Hughes, that was an entire weight class above him.

In spite of the fact that Penn was a big underdog that was believed to be sent back to 155 pounds by the champion, he managed to grab a rear-naked choke victory and gain UFC welterweight championship just in the first round.

Just after this victory, Penn left the company to compete in kickboxing and MMA promotion K-1 and therefore while he was absent, Hughes regained his UFC title and went on to beat Penn in a wonderful rematch at UFC 63.

The two also met each other at UFC 123, where they were both past the prime heyday of their career, yet it was Penn who succeeded to win the bout by TKO just 21 seconds into the first round so as to cement their trilogy fights among the greatest trilogies in MMA history.

Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard

In the List of UFC Trilogies, the thrilling encounters of Edgar and Maynard are arguably the craziest ones in the history of all combat sports.

Edgar who has anchored his name to one of the

for the most total fight time, coped with Maynard at UFC Fight Night 13.

While they were both unbeaten heading into the fight, it was Maynard who managed to beat his opponent via decision. Three years later, the two fought once again in what was highly revered as one of the greatest title fights in UFC history.

The fight was so competitive that the fans could not get enough of this spectacular display of heart and skills from both fighters and therefore the judges announced it a draw. This fight along with their third match at UFC 136 is marked as the Best comebacks in UFC history.

Precisely as saying, in their trilogy, even if Maynard scored a huge knockdown in the first round, in an exquisite twist of turns, it was Frankie who picked himself up and went on to finish Maynard in the fourth round.

George St. Pierre vs. Matt Hughes

As one of

, GSP is the all-time favourite fighter who owes part of his dominance in the UFC’s 170lbs division to his trilogy fights against Matt Hughes.

Before heading into their first fight at UFC 50, Matt Hughes was a 170lbs champion, who has been undefeated in his all prior fight and as a result, he could establish dominance by smashing 23-year-old GSP who was still an upcoming fighter via a first-round armbar.

With the experience of this fight, GSP went on to a five-fight winning streak after that so as to secure another shot at Hughes.

In their rematch at UFC 65, GSP amazingly finished the welterweight great with a nasty head kick that went down as one of the 

to take the belt and take his revenge just in the second round.

Not only did he exercise this head kick and punches knockout, but also the young Canadian was the dominant fighter in the whole fight as he gave up not any takedowns and managed to score two knockdowns as well.

Afterwards, when St-Pierre conceded his title to Matt Serra in one of the Biggest upsets in MMA history, he was provided with the opportunity to fight with Hughes again at UFC 79.

Again St-Pierre established dominance in the match as he finished his opponent via armbar submission, out-striking him 28 to 5, with controlling seven minutes on the ground, in comparison to Hughes’ seventeen seconds, so as to put on show one of

the greatest trilogies in MMA history

.

Chuck Liddell vs. Randy Couture

Without a shadow of a doubt, the encounters of Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture is one of the Best MMA Trilogies, perhaps in the light of the fact that they were both the greatest MMA stars at that time and the hype behind their third meeting was mindblowing.

While Chuck was assumed to be the most feared knockout artist in MMA, Randy has been one of

who had always a methodical approach.

In their first match that took place at UFC 43 for the Interim UFC 205lbs belt, much to many fans' consternation, Couture knocked Liddell out in round three to grab the championship.

This was because Couture who was mainly a wrestler, had been assumed to be a huge underdog heading into the fight, yet he proved to be the first man that managed to knock out Liddell so as to bring his 10-fight winning streak to a halt.

Afterwards, the warriors coached against each other on the inaugural season of The Ultimate Fighter and Liddell went on to take his revenge and regain his title by scoring a remarkable KO in their second fight at UFC 52.

In their excessively hyped up trilogy at UFC 57, Liddell’s signature mohawk and his lethal power saw him another second-round KO victory so as to defend his title.

Cain Velasquez vs. Junior dos Santos

Velasquez was expected to make his first title defence against rising Brazilian fighter Junior dos Santos. Back then Dos Santos with a professional record career of 13-1 had made a reputation for being a talented striker.

So both of the fighters were at the prime heyday of their career, before heading into their first encounter in 2011 for the UFC heavyweight title.

As many thought the Brazilian would be striving against the wrestling technique and relentless pressure of Velasquez, Santos was assumed to be a big underdog.

Yet in what was went down as one of the biggest upsets in the history of the heavyweight division, dos Santos managed to land the overhand right early in the first round to knock Cain out a little over a minute into the bout.

Be that as it may, in their rematch at UFC 155 in Las Vegas, Nevada, Velasquez put on a show one of the best performances of his career.

That is to say, he pushed an unimaginable amount of pressure on dos Santos, taking him down to the canvas several times.

Even if the champion was exhausted in the first two rounds, he managed to survive the next three. Yet it was Velasquez who grabbed a unanimous decision triumph to regain his belt.

Likewise in their third match at UFC 166, Cain just went on where he started in the second fight, as he smashed dos Santos in all sense of the word.

While Dos Santos underwent some crippling damages in that fight, he ended up conceding the fight via a TKO defeat for Cain.

It seems that Valesquez avenged his first defeat, by beating his opponent miserably in their next two matches in one of The 10 Greatest Trilogies in MMA history.

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