This content is protected This content is protected What It Is Inspired by the International Boxing Hall of Fame, I hereby declare the inaugural ballot for the East Side Boxing MMA Hall of Fame open. The objective is to honor all of the fighters and theorists, past and present, who contributed to improving Mixed Martial Arts into the sport it is today. Categories Modern -- The all-time great fighters of the sport, from 1993 onwards Old Timers -- Great fighters from before the birth of the UFC Pioneers -- The innovators and style inventors, from Bruce Lee to Barton-Wright, who made it all possible Other -- Anyone else who contributed greatly to the sport, from the founders of Abu Dhabi to Big John McCarthy to Dana White (cue mild gag reflex) How We'll Do It Fighters can be nominated by anybody in this thread. I will then create a ballot for each category, and the ten highest-scoring people in each category will be admitted (or fewer, if we can't think of 10 in each category). In each subsequent nomination thread (if this one comes off as a success), we'll probably nominate fewer. Gentlemen, cast your votes!
My nominations: Modern Royce Gracie (First champion, brought grappling to the masses) Fedor Emelianenko (Do I really need to specify?) Mark Coleman (Popularized the ground-and-pound, first GP winner) Kazushi Sakuraba (Destroyed the Gracie grip on MMA, beat most opponents in his weight class) Wanderlei Silva (Destructive buzz-saw who dominated his division for years) Randy Couture (Multi-time champion in several weight classes, even when ancient) Dan Henderson (One of the first multi-weight champions, P4P fighter) Matt Hughes (Very dominant in his weight division for a very long time) Pat Miletich (Successful and significant as both a trainer and fighter) Old Timer Yukio Tani (Brought Jiujitsu over to the West successfully) Helio Gracie (Founder of the modern form of Gracie Jiujitsu) Carlson Gracie (Fairly dominant champion in early Vale Tudo matches) Frank Gotch (First true "world" champion professional wrestler; probably real) Jem Mace (Last great English bareknuckler, fought a boxer/wrestler in Sam Hurst) Tom Cribb (One of the greatest bareknuckle champions) John L. Sullivan (Fought under Queensberry, Prize Ring, and Boxer vs. Wrestler rules) Gene LeBell (Defeated a boxer in a very early MMA bout) Jack Broughton (Reigned for 10 years, created the first boxing rules) James Figg (First boxing champion, brought boxing out of the realm of brawling) Pioneer Bruce Lee (Jeet Kune Do and cross-training) Barton-Wright (for his creation of a mixed martial art in Edwardian England) Other John Graham Chambers (Marquess of Queensberry) Antonio Inoki (Popularized "mixed" matches in Japan, albeit fake ones) Sheik Tahnoon Bin Zayed Al Nayan (founder ADCC) The Fertittas (considered as one unit)
You may vote for as many as you like. We will then begin to eliminate them until there are only 10 in each category.
Modern: Fedor, Wanderlei Silva, Randy Couture Old Timer: Ken Shamrock, Royce Gracie Pioneer: same as above. Other: JOE ****ING ROGAN
Modern: Royce Gracie, Fedor, BJ Penn, Wanderlei Silva, Randy Couture Old Timers: Rickson Gracie, Gene Lebell, Dan Inosanto, Steven Seagall (just kidding!) Pioneer: Bruce Lee, Helio Gracie, Kano Jigoro, James Figg, John L Sullivan Other: Gracie Jiujitsu, Marquess of Queensberry Rules (John Graham Chambers)
Old Timers Chris Dolman http://www.sherdog.net/forums/showthread.php?t=452260 (the thread starter is a d-bag and far overstates his case, but the info is compelling to say the least) Jose "Pele" Landi-Jons First star of Chute Boxe, trained the Rua brothers James Jefferies Jack Dempsey Pioneers Akira Maeda (founder of RINGS) Satoru Sayama (founder of Shooto)
I love the idea, but disagree with the categories. MMA has a very different rule set today. I believe it should be in a different category than the tournament style UFCs with fewer restrictions.