So this entry just popped out of nowhere while I'm reading random top tens in Listverse.com. I was actually inspired by the entries over there and I just thought, what about I do a top 10 of my own? This was originally a Top 10 Most Influential Basketball Players of all time but I figured that subject would be too broad and the discussions regarding that topic would never stop. Which brings me to another sport which is really really close to my heart, Mixed Martial Arts. There, it will be easier for me to rank because the sport hasn't been around that long, unlike my first option Basketball. Plus, should I miss one fighter on that list, I think it will only be less than 10, unlike in Basketball where in I could miss twenties.
Here are the criteria that I used i choosing
a) What they have actually done for the Sport and how they helped it grow
b) Their popularity, not only in hardcore fans but in casual fans itself
c) A proven winning record from a proven winning org
d) Must be an MMA fighter (So yeah, that does not include Bruce Lee or Carlos Gracie)
Here's the list
10) Fedor Emelianenko
While arguably the best Mixed Martial Artist in the sport's short history, one reason why Fedor is this low in my rankings is because he hasn't really changed the sport drastically compared to the other 9 fighters below. Plus, add to it the fact that Fedor is basically unknown in casual fans in North America, some parts of Europe and even here in the Philippines. Fedor of course is being treated like God in Japan and Russia, which he truly deserves btw, and still the Number 1 Heavyweight in the world right now.
9) Wanderlei Silva
If you would ask a fan who's been watching MMA for quite some time, who's the most exciting fighter in Mixed Martial Arts.. I guess you'll get Wanderlei Silva 8 out of 10 times. The name Wanderlei Silva is synonymous to the words exciting and warrior. Ruled in Japan for five years, stopping legends, future champs and big named fighters at that time. He even fought guys who were heavier than him, all for the sake of his fans.. all for the sake of entertainment. Wanderlei Silva truly is one of the most influential MMA fighters of all time
8) Tito Ortiz
Along with the rise of MMA as a sport comes this blond guy who slams people, elbows them to death, give them the finger and dig a grave for them. Yes, his name is Tito Ortiz.
I'm really disappointed with how unappreciative some fans can be. While MMA was on its dark ages, Tito Ortiz was almost on everybody's mouth. Everybody was talking about Tito, heck Tito for once was one of the most feared men in the UFC. Tito was also a former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, defended it for five times and was a part of two of the most talked about feuds in mainstream MMA.
7) Bas Rutten
Everybody loves Bas. How can you not? He's one of the pioneers of Mixed Martial Arts and also one of the respected strikers in the sport. Bas has this charisma, which everybody seem to love and of course, the fighting pedigree to back his charisma up.
After retiring, Bas went on to be a commentator in Pride FC for Japan and there, the term was coined, "When Bas talks, everybody listens"
6) Ken Shamrock
Known to many as the most dangerous man, Ken Shamrock is also a pioneer of the sport. Having fought since UFC 1, Shamrock turned heads with his deadly submissions and hot temper. Shamrock is also the founder of the Lion's Den, an MMA team which produced great fighters back then.
Shamrock was also known for being a part of one of the most talked about feuds in MMA against Tito Ortiz. Although Ken would lose all three of their matches, Ken would always be remembered as one of the all time greats which helped popularize the sport in it's darkest times.
5) Frank Shamrock
Frank is another pioneer in the sport who may not match up with his brother's fame, but definitely has an advantage when it comes to skill set alone.
He's known as probably the first ever well rounded MMA fighter in history. Has the ability to stand up and trade with good boxers, kick boxers and muay artists and has the ability to roll with the best grapplers in the sport. That's why he's still around even if the sport has evolved ten folds.
4) Randy Couture
Just like Bas Rutten, who doesn't love Randy Couture? Well probably Dana White but he hates everybody who's against him so.. that doesn't count. Randy is probably one of the classiest fighters ever. Known for his superior wrestling skills, Couture is still the only man in UFC History to win a title five times.
However, he's more known to casual fans as "the old guy" who beats up really big people, that of course is with reference to Randy's return title match against Tim Sylvia, which he won in dominating fashion and his dominance of rising Heavyweight Contender Gabriel Gonzaga.
3) Kazushi Sakuraba
A list of the most influential fighters of all time without Kazushi Sakuraba is not only blasphemous, it's also downright disgusting. Kazushi Sakuraba is definitely the most influential Asian in the Sport. Sakuraba in Japan is like Manny Pacquiao in the Philippines.. that's how influential this guy is. Sakuraba is a part of probably the most epic battle of all time, a 90 minute war against Royce Gracie.. and at that time, that was like the equivalent of Ali vs Frazer in Boxing.
Sakuraba was known for his exciting style of fighting and never say never attitude. Back in his prime, Sakuraba would fight fighters who was 20 to 30 pounds heavier than him. That's why everybody respects him and his legacy in this sport.
2) Chuck Liddell
Do I really need to write something about this guy? Let's just say he's the king of mainstream MMA. Dominated the UFC Light Heavyweight Division for quite sometime, winning it most by knock out. If you would go out and ask a casual fan who's their favorite fighter, you would get the answer Chuck Liddell 7/10 times. Now after that, try asking them who they first saw when they first watched MMA.. you'll get the answer Chuck Liddell 9/10 times
The hype this guy is having right now is just crazy, the magazine covers, the commercials, the shirts, the mohawks.. everything. Every wants to be this guy.. that's why he's number 2 in my list.
And now the most influential fighter of all time..
1)Royce Gracie
If you're watching a street fight, and you see a dork looking dude who's fighting a guy 50 pounds heavier than him, what would you first think? PWNAGE right? Well let's say after sticking around to watch a random guy get beat, you actually saw this dork looking dude break his opponent's arm in two what would you think? Right, awesomeness.
That's exactly what I thought when I first watched Royce Gracie and I know 50% of MMA fans thought that too.
Royce is actually the one who got me interested in MMA (Alongside Tito since I watched the Gracie fights on re runs) He wasn't a man in my opinion, he was just out there, breaking arms and choking out people and nobody had a clue on how he's doing it. That turned out to be a technique called Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, a technique that's being used by MMA fighters now world wide.
Other fighters that are worth noting
Matt Hughes
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
Mark Coleman
Dan Severn
Georges St.Pierre
BJ Penn
Don Frye
Anderson Silva
Mirko Cro Cop
Pat Militech
Comments and violent reactions are recommended. :D
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Monday, June 2, 2008
Thoughts on MMA weekend
For hardcore MMA fans, we couldn't have been put in a better scenario (Atleast before I watched EXC Yesterday :D) One week after a monster of an event by the UFC, we were treated to two more cards in back to back days.
But the better scenario turned into one of the worst cases of "Give me a fucking break, is this shit serious?" type of impression after watching the whole Elite XC show yesterday.
I mean, I woke up early to watch an MMA show, not a fixed circus event with an internet brawling sensation who's a C-level fighter at best Kimbo Slice fighting the king of tomato cans James Thompson as the main event. Given that I didn't expect that much from the show, I was really pissed off by how this show turned out. Why?
A) Crappy camera work
There's this one point in the match where Thompson was having a standing guillotine choke on Slice and voila.. the camera turns backwards and we're stuck wondering what the hell happened on the cage. Brett Rogers said Kimbo tapped, but thanks to the crappy camera work.. we didn't even see it.
B) Crappy refereeing
If anybody here watches MMA for an ample of time, here's a question.. when was the last time you saw a ref stand the fighters up when one of them has side control and pouncing away elbows and hammer punches on his opponent? Tell me. Right, just like me, you never saw one. That's exactly what happened in last night's circus.
James Thompson, who was brought in to lose, controlled Kimbo and took side control midway through the second round. And to my surprise, referee Dan Mirgliotta stood them up while Thompson was throwing elbows and punches! Damn. (More on the Kimbo - JT match below)
C) Bullshit stoppages
So Scott Smith got poked in the eye.. and you stop the freakin' match? What the hell was that? They didn't even give Smith the mandatory 5 minute rest after getting unintentionally eye poked. They just stopped it.
Another bs stoppage occured in the Main event. Yet again, the ever pampered Kimbo Slice got a TKO while JT was still standing up. Heck, if Mirgliotta could stop the fight with Kimbo hitting three clean shots on Thompson.. why the hell didn't he stop the fight when Kimbo was receiving 30 unanswered shots to the head in the second round?
D) The fan implication
Just think about it, MMA, to the one who practices it and to all those fat ass hardcore fans who've been there for quite some years now refers to this sport as a science, a mixture of different disciplines, whether it be Boxing, Jiu Jitsu, Wrestling, Judo et al. Last night's event was the first ever live telecast of MMA in Primetive TV in the US. And thanks to the freak show that Elite XC was, especially to the commentators who made it sound like the battle of two C-level fighters were like Ali vs Frazer in Boxing.. casual fans would now think that MMA is all about blood, all about brawlers and all that stuff. Goddamn you EXC. Goddamn you Gary Shaw.
Anyway....
Atleast, one day after, WEC put up a spectacular card. One card deserving to be on Primetime TV in the US.
WEC showcased two fight of the year worthy battles, first with the Bantamweight Championship match as Miguel Angel Torres succesfully defends it against Yoshiro Maeda. And of course, the main event, the Featherweight Championship bout as the ranked P4P fighter Urijah Faber stops former UFC Lightweight Champion Jens Pulver in an up and down war.
Thank God for WEC, you just saved MMA's weekend.
But the better scenario turned into one of the worst cases of "Give me a fucking break, is this shit serious?" type of impression after watching the whole Elite XC show yesterday.
I mean, I woke up early to watch an MMA show, not a fixed circus event with an internet brawling sensation who's a C-level fighter at best Kimbo Slice fighting the king of tomato cans James Thompson as the main event. Given that I didn't expect that much from the show, I was really pissed off by how this show turned out. Why?
A) Crappy camera work
There's this one point in the match where Thompson was having a standing guillotine choke on Slice and voila.. the camera turns backwards and we're stuck wondering what the hell happened on the cage. Brett Rogers said Kimbo tapped, but thanks to the crappy camera work.. we didn't even see it.
B) Crappy refereeing
If anybody here watches MMA for an ample of time, here's a question.. when was the last time you saw a ref stand the fighters up when one of them has side control and pouncing away elbows and hammer punches on his opponent? Tell me. Right, just like me, you never saw one. That's exactly what happened in last night's circus.
James Thompson, who was brought in to lose, controlled Kimbo and took side control midway through the second round. And to my surprise, referee Dan Mirgliotta stood them up while Thompson was throwing elbows and punches! Damn. (More on the Kimbo - JT match below)
C) Bullshit stoppages
So Scott Smith got poked in the eye.. and you stop the freakin' match? What the hell was that? They didn't even give Smith the mandatory 5 minute rest after getting unintentionally eye poked. They just stopped it.
Another bs stoppage occured in the Main event. Yet again, the ever pampered Kimbo Slice got a TKO while JT was still standing up. Heck, if Mirgliotta could stop the fight with Kimbo hitting three clean shots on Thompson.. why the hell didn't he stop the fight when Kimbo was receiving 30 unanswered shots to the head in the second round?
D) The fan implication
Just think about it, MMA, to the one who practices it and to all those fat ass hardcore fans who've been there for quite some years now refers to this sport as a science, a mixture of different disciplines, whether it be Boxing, Jiu Jitsu, Wrestling, Judo et al. Last night's event was the first ever live telecast of MMA in Primetive TV in the US. And thanks to the freak show that Elite XC was, especially to the commentators who made it sound like the battle of two C-level fighters were like Ali vs Frazer in Boxing.. casual fans would now think that MMA is all about blood, all about brawlers and all that stuff. Goddamn you EXC. Goddamn you Gary Shaw.
Anyway....
Atleast, one day after, WEC put up a spectacular card. One card deserving to be on Primetime TV in the US.
WEC showcased two fight of the year worthy battles, first with the Bantamweight Championship match as Miguel Angel Torres succesfully defends it against Yoshiro Maeda. And of course, the main event, the Featherweight Championship bout as the ranked P4P fighter Urijah Faber stops former UFC Lightweight Champion Jens Pulver in an up and down war.
Thank God for WEC, you just saved MMA's weekend.
Labels:
Elite XC,
James Thompson,
Jens Pulver,
Kimbo Slice,
Miguel Torres,
Urijah Faber,
WEC,
Yoshiro Maeda.
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