How would you describe Don Frye as a Fighter ?

Frye's fight with Abbott is one of my all time favorites.

It's hard to gauge just how good Frye was. I hate he never fought against Taktarov, Ruas, Mo Smith, Couture, or Rizzo.

Frye is one of the sport's pioneers that I think could still be relevant if he were to come along today. Especially if he were to campaign at 205. I wouldn't say he would be a champion, but he would be a contender. He was accomplished on a national level in both freestyle and greco roman wrestling. Frye also holds a black belt in judo. He didn't fight professionally until he was 30 years old, and was sporting a 15-1 record before losing his 2nd fight at the age of 37. Frye's UFC record is 10-1, with his lone loss coming against the much larger Mark Coleman. Frye came along in the UFC's one night tournament format. He won 2 out of the 3 tournaments he fought in.

 

Anyone going life and death with a glorified bar room brawler like Tank Abbott ain't much of an elite fighter of any discipline

 

Probably the next step up from a guy like Marco Ruas, genuinely dangerous hands AND could finish on the ground to. Wouldnt say he's world class at either, but if you watch the early UFC's in order it's clear the progression of skill sets is there with Frye being one of the pioneers in cross training. Don did little things that might go unoticed today and with his tendency to get drawn into a brawl making him look wild, which, he was when the adrenaline kicked in. But he was doing things such as working basic boxing combo's, doubling the jab, using punches to set up a take down which is HUGE considering guys like Coleman, and even up to Tito were straight shooters, targeting the body with punches in the clinch, hitting the relatively weak side of the head during gnp to avoid breaking his hands with those small gloves ect, wasnt afraid to submit guys, especially when hurt as in the Tank fight, which showed a lot of nous...all things we didnt see before Frye, and didnt see being used effectively for YEARS afterwards

He was a brawler in a bad era no doubt, but we shouldn't dismiss his contribution to MMA. Would do pretty well if he started in his early 20's today I think, a good comparison would be Thiago Silva, if you substitute BJJ for wrestling. Even if you put the Don from the Shamrock fight, in todays era I only see the very elite like Shogun and Jones stopping him and making him look bad, and he'd go the distance, and maybe even pick up a win or two with the rest

And of course, he was a tough SOB as well

 

Tough as old boots.

 

A hoss.

 

that fool didn't knew the meaning of word "fear"

Incredibly tough but very limited


my fav fights
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G90YcgwAZTM[/ame]


[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8_6EdqzhCA[/ame]

 

Great comedy.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PdYMitjmh0[/ame]

 

Magnum PI on steroids

 

One tough *******. Very limited fighter but had a very entertaining style and thats what he was all about :good

 

There was time when Frye was ranked as the number one heavy in the world. Don Frye once upon a time was a baaad man. And he was also a small heavy.

 

oleg taktarov was a ufc and world sambo champion and tank stretched him to the point of almost literal life and death

 

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBcwq3e_vfc[/ame]


The sport constantly evolved....there's a HUGE huge difference btw. UFC in early 90's. and the UFC we see today.

Take a solid contender today,and he would seriously wreck some **** in the early UFC's.
a guy like Bader would seriously **** up Takhtarov.