After witnessing some stunning MMA upsets in recent weeks, Tapology decided to look back at the top upsets from 2008 to see how they compared. The top 25 upsets of 2008 are listed below, ranked based upon the oddsmaker’s lines that were publicly available at the time. The list includes matches from all of the major promotions, including the UFC, WEC, EliteXC, Strikeforce, Sengoku and Dream. Topping them all was former Pride Lightweight champion Takanori Gomi, a -800 favorite, losing via decision to the unheralded Sergey Golyaev in Japan at the Sengoku 6 show.
Eleven of the top 25 came out of the UFC, with then little-known Junior Dos Santos knocking out Fabricio Werdum at UFC 90 as the biggest among them. The WEC has three fights on the list, most notably -560 favorite Urijah Faber losing his featherweight title in the first of his two bouts with current champion Mike Thomas Brown.
Of all the surprising moments on the list perhaps the one that has delivered the strongest lasting impact on the sport is #6. Seth Petruzelli, who stepped in to face Kimbo Slice as a last-minute replacement on CBS, not only knocked out and demystified the YouTube sensation, but also set the wheels in motion for the unraveling of the EliteXC organization.
| Rank | Odds | Loser | Odds | Winner | Result | Fight Date | Event Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | -800 | Takanori Gomi |
+676 | Sergey Golyaev |
Decision | 11/1/08 | Sengoku 6 |
| 2 | -675 | Yoon Dong Sik |
+525 | Andrews Nakahara |
Round 2 KO/TKO | 9/23/08 | Dream.6 |
| 3 | -650 | Fabricio Werdum |
+450 | Junior Dos Santos |
Round 1 KO/TKO | 10/25/08 | UFC 90 |
| 4 | -563 | Urijah Faber |
+443 | Mike Thomas Brown |
Round 1 KO/TKO | 11/5/08 | WEC 36 |
| 5 | -500 | Roan Carneiro |
+375 | Kevin Burns |
Round 2 Submission | 6/7/08 | UFC 85 |
| 6 | -455 | Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson |
+358 | Seth Petruzelli |
Round 1 KO/TKO | 10/4/08 | Elite XC |
| 7 | -413 | Gilbert Melendez |
+358 | Josh Thomson |
Decision | 6/27/08 | Strikeforce |
| 8 | -401 | Thiago Tavares |
+361 | Matt Wiman |
Round 2 KO/TKO | 6/7/08 | UFC 85 |
| 9 | -388 | Ikuhisa Minowa |
+258 | Taiei Kin |
Decision | 4/29/08 | Dream.2 |
| 10 | -376 | Ryan Schultz |
+318 | Mizuto Hirota |
Round 2 KO/TKO | 8/24/08 | Sengoku 4 |
| 11 | -368 | Kendall Grove |
+248 | Jorge Rivera |
Round 1 KO/TKO | 1/19/08 | UFC 80 |
| 12 | -363 | Luke Stewart |
+273 | Tiki Ghosn |
Decision | 3/29/08 | Strikeforce |
| 13 | -356 | Alan Belcher |
+301 | Jason Day |
Round 1 KO/TKO | 4/19/08 | UFC 83 |
| 14 | -350 | Phillipe Nover |
+295 | Efrain Escudero |
Decision | 12/13/08 | TUF 8 Finale |
| 15 | -345 | Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira |
+278 | Frank Mir |
Round 2 KO/TKO | 12/27/08 | UFC 92 |
| 16 | -341 | Brian Stann |
+311 | Steve Cantwell |
Round 2 KO/TKO | 8/3/08 | WEC 35 |
| 17 | -335 | Mitsuhiro Ishida |
+285 | Caol Uno | Round 2 Submission | 5/11/08 | Dream.3 |
| 18 | -334 | Elaina Maxwell |
+314 | Miesha Tate |
Decision | 6/27/08 | Strikeforce |
| 19 | -321 | Manny Gamburyan |
+291 | Rob Emerson |
Round 1 KO/TKO | 8/9/08 | UFC 87 |
| 20 | -315 | Ikuhisa Minowa |
+245 | Masakatsu Funaki |
Round 1 Submission | 9/23/08 | Dream.6 |
| 21 | -311 | Chase Beebe |
+271 | Will Ribeiro |
Decision | 6/1/08 | WEC 34 |
| 22 | -311 | Akihiro Gono |
+276 | Dan Hardy |
Decision | 10/18/08 | UFC 89 |
| 23 | -296 | Corey Hill |
+256 | Dale Hartt |
Round 2 KO/TKO | 12/10/08 | UFC UFN 16 |
| 24 | -291 | Sam Stout |
+246 | Terry Etim |
Decision | 10/18/08 | UFC 89 |
| 25 | -286 | Gesias “JZ” Cavalcante |
+241 | Shinya Aoki |
Decision | 4/29/08 | Dream.2 |
