The votes are in, and the top two seeds are clashing in the final for a big unofficial honor.
In the wake of the cancelation of just about every sports event going, including the NCAA Tournament, the UFC gave fans a reason to think about brackets in March, after all. The promotion, through UFC Fight Pass, set up a 16-fight bracket for the best comebacks in MMA history.
And now the final is set with voting going on right now: No. 1 seed Anderson Silva’s fifth-round submission of Chael Sonnen at UFC 148 in 2010 is up against No. 2 seed Cheick Kongo’s win over Pat Barry in 2011.
Silva’s win over Sonnen topped No. 5 seed Frankie Edgar’s win over Gray Maynard in their trilogy fight at UFC 136 in 2011. Kongo’s win over Barry got past a Cinderella story in No. 11 seed Darren Elkins’ win over Mirsad Bektic at UFC 209 in 2017.
If you’re a Fight Pass subscriber, you can head there and watch all the fights from the round of 16, which featured nine UFC bouts, three from PRIDE, two from Strikeforce, one from Invicta FC and one from Cage Warriors. Then you can vote for the winner at the UFC Fight Pass official Twitter feed.
Check out the final bracket with the final matchup set above, and take a look at some video highlights of the two bouts below. Then keep track of the UFC Fight Pass Twitter account to see the eventual winner.
Take a look at the two finalists inside:
No. 2 Cheick Kongo vs. Pat Barry
When: UFC on Versus 4 | June 26, 2011
Where: Consol Energy Center, Pittsburgh
Result: Cheick Kongo def. Pat Barry via knockout (puch) – Round 1, 2:39
The aftermath: The Kongo-Barry fight was moved to the main event after Nate Marquardt was not medically cleared to fight Rick Story. And despite early troubles of all kinds, Kongo hit his Hail Mary. Barry dropped Kongo twice in the first half of the first round with big right hands. But somehow, he managed to get back to his feet and put Barry away with a two-punch combination that became most analysts’ “Comeback of the Year” for 2011. Barry alternated wins and losses in the UFC over the next couple years, then signed with Bellator. There, he went 12-2 and finally got a title shot against dual champion Ryan Bader this past September. But when Bader landed an accidental eye poke, Kongo was unable to continue and the fight ended in a no contest. The loss for Barry started a 2-5 run to end his career; he retired in 2013.
No. 1 Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen
When: UFC 117 | Aug. 7, 2010
Where: Oracle Arena, Oakland, Calif.
Result: Anderson Silva def. Chael Sonnen via submission (triangle armbar) – Round 5, 3:10
The aftermath: Silva was dominated for the first four rounds against Sonnen, but caught him with stellar ground work late in the fifth. Had Sonnen survived the final frame, he would’ve been the UFC’s new middleweight champion. Instead, Silva got his 13th straight win. After that, he won title fights with Vitor Belfort, Yushin Okami and a rematch with Sonnen in which he put him away with a second-round TKO. After a non-title win over Stephan Bonnar, Silva’s career took a decided downturn. He lost the belt to Chris Weidman with a shocking knockout in July 2013. Later that year, he suffered one of MMA’s all-time worst injuries when he snapped his leg in a rematch with Weidman. Silva tested positive for banned substances after a win over Nick Diaz in 2015 and has dropped four of five since returning from a subsequent suspension – putting the onetime pound-for-pound king on a 1-6 slide over nearly seven years.
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