[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrEwEbeHBsU[/ame] what do you consider were the most significant fights in ufc history? hughes v st pierre 2 (the changing of the guard) franklin vs silva 1 jackon v henderson gonzaga v crocop (the end of pride) etc etc
Royce Gracie vs Gerard Gordeau - the advent of Gracie jiujitsu Royce Gracie vs Dan Severn - showed the early wins weren't a fluke by beating another bigger stronger opponent. Ken Shamrock vs Royce Gracie II - Shamrock unveils the ground and pound strategy - later utilized by the majority of wrestlers in the octagon. Maurice Smith vs Mark Coleman - showed that strikers can win against stronger wrestlers. Frank Shamrock vs Tito ORtiz - showed that conditioning was the missing ingredient in the mixed martial artists tool chest. Sakuraba vs Royce Gracie I - showed that jiujitsu fighters could be beaten. (Pride fight) Forest Griffin vs Stephan Bonner ( most important UFC fight in terms of bringing MMA into the popular consciousness.) Lyoto Machida vs Rashad Evans - showed that traditional martial artists can dominate in the octagon.
good choices... did severn once say he refrained from hitting gracie while on the ground for fear of killing him? im sure i read something like that...
I think Coleman vs. Frye showed the real potential of gnp. Shamrocks was the sort of spark in daddy's eye.. Coleman was the first embodiment of GnP imo. I still remember how painful it was to watch Severn and Shamrock go at it.. Now that looked like two guys trying to bone one another. I think an under-rated one is Couture vs. Belfort.. Belfort was on a total tear, looked unbeatable.. Randy stepped in and used a very unorthodox high defense to block and Counter Belfort.. Pretty amazing on Coutures behalf, it really showed how cerebral the game can be.. In the sense I'm sure Belfort was NOT expecting Randy to come in and stand with him. Randy always had a ton of balls, intelligence and cool to stick with gameplans.
The most significant is by far Bonnar-Griffin I had that fight sucked I dont know if we are here talking about UFC on the level in which it is now.
The evolution of MMA has been frightening. I think only recently that MMA has become it's own style. Boxing, Muay Thai, Judo, Wrestling and BJJ must be learnt. I think we are perhaps entering further evolution with the more introduction and more blatent examples of Karate, TKD etc
Shamrock V Ortiz fight was the most important fight because Ortiz made the UFC a product, gave the organisation a face and it's first real star. People outside of MMA knew who Ortiz was and he made the sport accessible to Joe public... and that celebration was awesome.
mma has evolved faster then any sport ever but not just the sports itself but the fighters in it too, there is a clear difference in skill level from today and fighters 20 years ago. **** theres even new submissions and submission defense being invented daily. not saying that the old timers weren't great in there respected era but the fighters today are on another level and are just getting better.
I couldn't agree more! saying GSP is better than Rikson is like saying a gang banger is a better fighter than Hannibal because he has a gun.
