The 5 Greats

[permafrost]

Royce
Frank
Ken
Saku
Oleg

[Sig]

BJ penn - master of innate talent and skill, showed us that MMA is not just about raw strength and aggression, and gave inspiration to many that you dont have to be completely ripped to compete in MMA. (I know a few people that started training MMA soley because of seeing this little hawaiian kid defeat the god that was matt hughes at the time)

matt hughes - Master of strength and heart, and the most dominant champion ever in MMA. Showed us that Control is the most important aspect of MMA. If you are a better striker than your opponent, you must control the fight by keeping it standing, etc....Matt took the fight were he wanted it and pounded out many a glorious victory.

randy couture - master of the gameplan. A very smart fighter that showed us that adapting your fighting style based on who you were fighting could get the better of an opponent thats expected to beat you

royce gracie - the pioneer, showed everyone what MMA was about, not just bloody brawling, but graceful submissions. A legend and icon to the sport of MMA.

fedor - The unbeatable fighter. Showed us that the perfect combination of skill, control, and intelligence could not be beat in the world of MMA. Regarded by many fighters as the best and an inspiration to all. Humble in victory, elusive to defeat.

[kidego365]

no love for bas?

heck I am not even a big shammy fan but Ken deserves some legend status as well.

Royce
Ken
Bas
Funaki
Fedor

[cXs808]

5 is such a small list for so many good fighters that have come through the game already

Royce
Fedor
Wanderlei
Bas
Randy

notable runner ups:
Chuck
Penn
Ken
Saku

[Z7Ceo]

The Gracies go without saying, they're kind of a gimme

Chuck showed how a prodominent striker could excel

Coleman introduced GnP

Tito/Ken most influential in bringing mma as close to mainstream as it is

now befor the flaming begins, fedor is a phenominal fighter but I don't know that I would call him influential in the grand scheme.

[kickboxkid]

randy couture- guy gets ko'd by chuck 2 times and comes back and wins the hvyweight title

nog-more heart than i have ever seen in a fighter

jens pulver- went from the horrible childhood to become a superstar in mma and all because he wanted to change the way the last name pulver was looked at

robbie lawler- tough up comer who was vicious but has matured to an excellent fighter and shows how much maturity means in the fight game

royce- the little fighter he is beating all the bigger fighters by using his bjj purely amazing

[benjamin1cs]

Wow, there's surprisingly little love for Ken Shamrock here so far. Sure, he stuck around far, far too long and is a bit of a joke now, but the guy was ultra-important to the early UFC, which means he was ultra-important to MMA. He was the first UFC competitor who really seemed to grap the idea of being a mixed martial artist, and he's the missing link from pro wrestling and catch wrestling to modern MMA.

[CJ_Satan]

Originally Posted by Sig

BJ penn - master of innate talent and skill, showed us that MMA is not just about raw strength and aggression, and gave inspiration to many that you dont have to be completely ripped to compete in MMA. (I know a few people that started training MMA soley because of seeing this little hawaiian kid defeat the god that was matt hughes at the time)

matt hughes - Master of strength and heart, and the most dominant champion ever in MMA. Showed us that Control is the most important aspect of MMA. If you are a better striker than your opponent, you must control the fight by keeping it standing, etc....Matt took the fight were he wanted it and pounded out many a glorious victory.

randy couture - master of the gameplan. A very smart fighter that showed us that adapting your fighting style based on who you were fighting could get the better of an opponent thats expected to beat you

royce gracie - the pioneer, showed everyone what MMA was about, not just bloody brawling, but graceful submissions. A legend and icon to the sport of MMA.

fedor - The unbeatable fighter. Showed us that the perfect combination of skill, control, and intelligence could not be beat in the world of MMA. Regarded by many fighters as the best and an inspiration to all. Humble in victory, elusive to defeat.

Very good list but i definitely wouldn't have Randy in there. I would have Saku or Bas instead. I really don't see all the love for Randy.

[CJ_Satan]

Originally Posted by kickboxkid

randy couture- guy gets ko'd by chuck 2 times and comes back and wins the hvyweight title

nog-more heart than i have ever seen in a fighter

jens pulver- went from the horrible childhood to become a superstar in mma and all because he wanted to change the way the last name pulver was looked at

robbie lawler- tough up comer who was vicious but has matured to an excellent fighter and shows how much maturity means in the fight game

royce- the little fighter he is beating all the bigger fighters by using his bjj purely amazing

I wouldn't say any of these would be top 5 greats (except Royce) but all interesting.

Randy doesn't deserve it. And for your reasons definitely not, you shouldn't get praised for losing.

The other 3 (Nog/Jens/Robbie) are all ingteresting picks and i like the explations that go along with them. I'm a huge Lawler fan too so i'm glad to see his name.

[chetthejet]

gotta go old school and there is still to many for a list of five.
1.Royce Gracie
2.Ken
3.frank
4.Randy
5.Don Frye (should be in the hall of fame)