Yeah I get that. On the Gracies I'd be tempted to put Rorion ahead of Royce. His behind the scenes stuff set the stage for not only the formation of the UFC but the wider spread of Gracie jiu-jitsu in America. And it was his call to have Royce instea of Rickson fight at UFC 1
Yeah but he was behind the scenes. Royce's tournament victories and match with Sakuraba put him ahead for me. Made MMA in both the States and Japan. Riorion basically put the Gracie Challenge started by Helio in Brazil on PPV in the States.
At this point it has to be Dana and the Fertittas. Not to disrespect any of the Gracies, Shamrock etc. But Dana and co are the ones who changed MMA from being a niche circus event type thing that was right on the verge of being made illegal in the USA, to a real sport with a significant presence on primetime network TV. :hat
To put anybody above the Gracies is ****ing ******ed. And funnily enough Helio Gracie had his fair share of primetime network television appearances in Brazil. Did Dana promote them too?
If one family had dominated the prototype sport in their native country If one family had worked to get sport onto American television for the first time in its history and controlled the primary promotion in the early years of the sport If one family had provided the consensus top fighter in its early years If one family had provided the fighter who's feud with a local star would create the promotion that would take the sport to new highs in that country. If one family's feud with a local boxer had turned that promotion into a mainstream powerhouse If one family had provided the legendary fighter that would still a decade after his prime had ended give the welterweight champion of the world his defining victory If such a family existed in boxing then they would be recognised as the most important and influential set of people in the sport's history. Now of course that family doesn't exist in boxing, it does exist in MMA and that's why your failure to recognise their impact is ******ed.
All of that, and it still took Dana and the Fertittas to take MMA in the West from an irrelevant, all-but illegal circus contest that was two steps away from extinction, to a mainstream sport with Fox Sports pushing it hard with a multi-year, more than half-billion dollar commitment. You have your opinion that the Gracies were the most influential. Fine. That's your opinion. Another opinion is that the greater influence were the men who brought MMA from the unregulated, irrelevant mess that was illegal in dozens of states, to the accepted mainstream sport that the biggest network on the planet is looking to put on equal footing with NASCAR, MLB and the NFL. :hat
Jesus Christ you're a moron. How exactly does Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta make MMA the mainstream success story it is today without the Gracies creating it in the first place? You know how White and Fertitta learnt about MMA? BY TAKING GRACIE JIU-JITSU CLASSES!!! Would White and the Fertittas have wanted to buy the UFC if they hadn't had seen the early success of the Royce Gracie shows and the growth of the sport in Japan off Rickson Gracie's fights? They after all settled on making an offer after attending a Japanese show and seeing how the fanbase had grown their. And when the UFC was desperately trying to get Matt Hughes over they still needed to pick up the phone and convince Royce to come back. And if you don't believe me...this is what Dana White has to say on the matter: He is the godfather. He is the man who started it all and we all bow down and kiss the ring of Royce Gracie, UFC® President Dana White said. He kick-started the entire sport of mixed martial arts.
And this is before we stop and think that whereas Dana's in-ring achievements are limited to boxercise and a cancelled boxing match against Tito, the Gracies created the martial art that is one of the essential ingredients of the sport.
**** you're a sook. This is an exchange of opinions, what are you crying about? Why are you throwing a pathetic temper tantrum? I specifically mentioned the Gracies, and am well aware of their place in the sport's history. The first MMA clip I ever saw was Royce submitting Ken in 20 seconds FFS. atsch In terms of influence, in the Western world you have the Gracies taking the sport from absolutely nothing, to an unregulated, virtually-illegal circus event with some limited name recognition that was all but extinct before Zuffa stepped in. Then from that point, you have a different set of power players taking it to become a legitimate, primetime, mainstream sport. I don't discredit the Gracie legacy, their historical significance or their impact in the sport. Not at all. I simply claim that the people who picked up where they left off have done more for advancing the SPORT. Remember that when Royce and Ken were fighting, it WASN'T even a sport. It was unregulated and illegal in most states and countries. It was Zuffa who changed that, not the Gracies. If Dana and the Fertittas hadn't expended so much energy and resources into legitimizing it, then MMA would have withered and died. It was all but dead already when they took over, and look where it is now. :hat
Royce did 240000 PPV buys in 1995 and 620000 in 2006 v Shamrock and Hughes respectively UFC 144 did 375,000 and 143 did 400000 and 142 did 225000 Just sayin
Mayors and Martial arts coaches who aren't interested in just big money. In other words poor boys and swagger aint gonna pay exorbitant prices that most martial arts guys want. Only Mayors who emphasize with with rough lives are interested in sponsoring fight gyms, fight coaches, fight lawyers, fights, etc....