What fights have you watched today?

UFC 7

Shamrock maintains his place as the best MMA fighter in the world with a draw against Taktarov. Quite a skilled battle on the mat with the two neutralising each other. Shamrock landed more punishing strikes but there was no decision rendered so a draw had to suffice.

Marco Ruas looked sensational though. Absolutely world class.

The way he won the final event with the keg kicks was incredible literally like chopping down a tree.

ATG list

Gracie
Shamrock
Severn
Taktarov
Ruas
Abbot.

Other people have lost their place due to not really surfacing after the initial tournaments. Abbot wasn't in this tourney so he's in danger of being relegated as well.

Onto UFC 8, with Tom Sellick about to kick ass.

 

UFC 8

Shamrock again has his dominance over the field of opposition and beats Kimo who has had some notable success outside of UFC.

Frye comes along looking like a very complete fighter. His wrestling, his striking and his condition all seem top notch.

As far as LHW fighters go today, Frye doesn't look like he'd be out of his depth at all.

Shame Frye and Severn never got it on.

UFC 9 up next.

 

UFC 9 was basically a waste of my life.

Frye looked immense again and cemented his place as the best of the rest.

Shamrock and Severn was, well if you've seen it you know. The two have conflicting views though, Severn reckons it was a master gameplan forcing the counter fighter on the front foot. Shamrock says he refused to punch due to the court case and this affected his gameplan.

Seeing a man with a 30 pound weight advantage, who is a master wrestler, dancing from range was a bit pathetic.

What were the punch stats? 10-8 or something like that? Ironic how the judges scored the punches despite them being illegal.

Whenever Severn shot Shamrock defended quite easily.

Hard calling Severn the best fighter in the world after this but the punch stats don't lie and Shamrock effectively retired after the fight anyway so I can live with it.

I've got a new found appreciation for technique since watching these early events, but I doubt anyone appreciates this fight.

What a disappointing event, essentially p4p 1v2.

 

Fatal error or the gameplan utilised by Lidell who's one of the goats?

 

I agree totally on that bit. I'm just saying I don't think Frye is out of his depth in the LHW division.

I hear a lot of talk about how the sport has evolved, but in terms of raw skill the biggest change is people getting an understanding of BJJ defence imo

 

Maybe I'll agree the more I watch.

 

UFC 10 and 11

The rise of Mark Coleman. He is like a mixture of Frye and Severn but the best bits of both. Looks incredible here with his stand up game from range but more importantly his takedown skills combined with his ground and pound game are top class.

Not sure how a fight with him and Severn would go so I can't rank him over the Beast yet but he's definitely the best of the rest.

Ruas in danger of losing his place on the list as is Taktarov. Both are in the UU so we'll see how that goes.

I'm not ranking anyone from Pancrase as the rules are too bizarre so it isn't proven for me.

No Pride yet so all ranked fighters have to have proven themselves in the UFC.

I reckon the first two pride fighters I'll have to watch are Vovanchyn and Sakuraba.

But right now, as of UFC 11, it looks like this.


Royce Gacie
Ken Shamrock
Dan Severn
Mark Coleman
Don Frye
Oleg Taktarov
Marco Ruas

 

Yeah not quite up to him yet, just watching UFC12 but it isn't far off.

I'm gonna watch his key fights as they happen in this timeline.