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Forgotten gem: Watch Hiromitsu Miura's electric WEC title challenge against Carlos Condit

LAS VEGAS, NV - OCTOBER 01:  Hiromitsu Miura rests in his corner while bleeding after a punch from Hector Hernandez during their super middleweight fight at the Marquee Ballroom in the MGM Grand Conference Center October 1, 2011 in Las Vegas, Nevada.  They are the third undercard fight before the main event of Rafael Marquez vs Toshiaki Nishioka WBC super Bantamweight title fight.  (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Getty Images)
Hiromitsu Miura had a fasinating career as an MMA fighter and professional boxer. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Getty Images)

MMA veteran and former professional boxer Hiromitsu Miura passed away Oct. 26 after a battle with acute leukemia, his family announced Tuesday. He was 43.

A former Pancrase welterweight champion, Miura spent the majority of his combat sports career competing in Japan, so he never become a household name for Western fans more attuned to the roster workings of the UFC. But the Japanese welterweight still left one indelible mark on North American audiences over the course of his five-fight run with now-defunct World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC), a run that culminated with his 2008 challenge for the promotion's welterweight title against champion — and future MMA legend — Carlos Condit.

Meeting in the main event of WEC 35, Miura and Condit engaged in one of the sport's forgotten all-action gems — a knock-down, drag-out war of attrition that saw Miura push the champ to his absolute limits before finally succumbing to a flurry of punches in the closing seconds of Round 4.

"I was fortunate I came away with the win tonight," an exhausted Condit wheezed post-fight.

Miura and Condit only had one more combined appearance in the WEC after their instant classic before each went their separate ways — Condit to the UFC, Miura to professional boxing and then Pancrase, both ultimately winning titles in their respective promotions. But Condit vs. Miura still stands tall as one of the standout bouts of the WEC archive. Re-watch Miura's fearless title challenge against Condit in its entirety below.