That's true to a certain extent but Liddell was intended to face off against Wanderlei in the tournament finals. That was the fight everybody wanted to see but Rampage proved to be the fly in the ointment. UFC hw division was horrendous back then Dana knew his boys would get torn up and humiliated if he brought them over.
Pride definitely had the best HW division from the inaugural champion to the merger. There isn't really any doubt IMO. Hard to say if it had the best LHW(MW) and MW(WW) fighters though.
Pride hands down was better than the UFC at that time imo. I have all the Pride DVD including the Bushidos!! Big fan of PRIDE!
I have all the UFC dvds myself. Gonna start watching them once I've finished my big boxing list off (two fights on that now)
I see the appeal of it, might get them myself one day. Athough with the UFC merger happening watching anything outside of the Octagon and with a different rule set seems a bit pointless lol.
Ok here's my top 5 Fedor A. Silva GSP Henderson Lidell I haven't included Jones, McGregor, Johnson, Cruz, Velasquez or Aldo because I still think they've got more to offer the sport. BW and FLW is too new to consider any of those just yet. Honourable mentions for Noguiera, Cro Cop, Jackson, Rua, Ortiz, Wanderlei, Franklin, Hughes, Penn, Pulver. Still not sure how to rate Gracie, Shamrock x2, Couture and Sakuraba. Unsure if I've missed off any other ATG locks. Lidell might be high but h2h he's an absolute beast.
It's a tough one. I know he's one of the early guys but any wrestler with a good stand up game has skills that still translate to the modern era. Would he beat Velasquez? I can't see it happening. But if he stays away from the power of Dos Santos he could take him down and pummel him. It's hard to say. He won the tournament in UFC and Pride so he's clearly got mega talent, but then he lost to names who don't scream out greatness.
Fair enough. He was a bad dude in his hey day and was a pioneer in the evolution of ground and pound! In his prime I'd give him a great shot at beating any of the modern heavyweights in the UFC right now. He's an ATG, I just dont know how high.
UFC had some great top level LHWs but pride had more depth, neither MW division was very good but pride had the top fighter in Dan Henderson.
