The 5 Greats - Page 2

unknown2dark · 07-03-2008, 12:52 PM

hendo first person to hold to belts in to different weight classes

wand pride champ for 4 years

Instacall · 07-03-2008, 12:52 PM

i think this has to be broken down by time period, in gen 1 you had the gracies and ken shamrock, mark coleman, and dan severn.

later on you had frank shamrock, sakuraba and tito.

then you move into the chuck, hughes, randy, and early BJ, jens era.

now you have a whole new breed of fighters like GSP, anderson silva, rampage, the reinvented BJ and the great fedor.

that is how it has to be broken down. you can't just pick from from one time period. you have to look at the evolution of the modern day fighter.

now you have the

Riffmeister11 · 07-03-2008, 12:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cmgib

i loved your thread on that to riffmeister, that was great

Thanks dude.

theocean · 07-03-2008, 12:55 PM

saku
royce
wand
chuck
fedor

mkess101 · 07-03-2008, 01:00 PM

1. Royce Gracie. He started it all and proved a skinny little guy could use technique to beat bigger, stronger guys and that there were no "magical" karate kicks that would work in real fights.

2. Chuck Lidell. Was a key component of bringing MMA into mainstream America through coaching on TUF and became the most popular MMA fighter of all time.

3. Fedor Emelianenko. Dominated the HW division, beating a who's who of top HW's and showed it's not always the baddest looking guy who's the best in the world.

4. Randy Couture. Like Lidell, was key in bringing MMA into the mainstream and showed that through hard work and taking care of your body, success even well into a person's 40's was possible even in the most demanding sport on the planet.

5. Tito Ortiz. His brash, in-your-face attitude and successful run in the LHW division kept the UFC afloat (though barely) before TUF came along and actually made it profitable.

I just realized I left Sakuraba off my list. Though I don't necessarily think he's MORE influential than any of the guys I listed, he needs to be mentioned. He was integral in growing the popularity of the sport in Japan, and is one of the most popular fighters of all time.

SaintsDen · 07-03-2008, 01:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cmgib

Who do you think are the 5 most influencial fighters in the history of mma and and why. please serious answers, I curious as to what you guys think.

1. Royce
2. Couture
3. Hughes
4. Lidell
5. Fedor

I know my list is mostly recent fighters, but they have helped shape the public's view about the sport.

Halfway · 07-03-2008, 01:07 PM

Royce Gracie - He really is the father of MMA in the US, he introduced the sport and BJJ, something no one knew about and they quickly saw how it was dominant against most popular MA's. Really showed that the smaller man can have the advantage in a fight.

Frank Shamrock - He was the first prototypical MMA fighter. He was a great grappler and had a solid striking game (not great) and he fought with ferocity like no other.

Randy Couture - Great ambassador to the sport. Very respectable and the epitome of an underdog. I believe he was the first to hold two different belts in two different weight classes. Tons of heart and he seemed to shine as he got older.

Kazushi Sakuraba - Sort of put an end to the Gracie legacy. Showed that BJJ wasn't the only grappling style that could work in MMA. He was inventive, never had a bad fight and showed tons of heart, arguably more heart than any other fighter.

BJ Penn - Came out of nowhere and shocked the world. A natural LW who has not only fought at 170 but was champ, beating the most dominant WW, fought at MW & HW. He took the road less traveled and did it as a 155er which should never be downplayed.

Honorable Mentions:

Fedor, Chuck, GSP, Gomi, Wand, Hughes, Big Nog.