Couture still highly ranked because of the failed drugs test. Hard to hold the loss against him, 3 losses now have asterixs against them and only the Inoue loss is legit for me.
UFC 39 Good night of action this. Baron absolutely steamrolls Menne to put his name out there as one of the top prospects. Again with this division being so shallow he's a default ATG by this point off the strength of that combo. Pulver leaves UFC and the top 4 men left face off in a tournament. Uno once again beats Thomas. BJ Penn beats Matt Serra who's has quite an inconsistent start to MMA so far. Penn has already beaten Uno so should have an easy time of it in the final. Pulver, Penn and Gomi seem to be the real deal at the top of this division, Uno is not far behind. Rizzo gets his nose broken against McGee and his tenure as a top HW seems to be ending now. The prelims see Sylvia make his UFC debut in dominant fashion. Good job really because the division is getting a bit thin with some big names leaving the Octagon. Couture Vs Rodriguez is the main event and we see Couture start in dominant fashion against Rodriguez winning the stand up exchanges and taking him down. Tito tells Rico to let his hands go in the break. Second starts with Rico pulling guard couture just begins pounding away with no real patience or defensive awareness just saw grit and determination but ultimately he again dominates the round. Round 3 starts in the same way but about 2 minutes in Ricco takes down Couture and lands some good shots and works some submissions to nick the round. Round 4 Ricco starts off fast taking Randy down and controlling the action. Round 5 carries on in exactly the same way and now Ricco is 2-2 in rounds and winning the third big until Randy is pinned in the corner and submits to the ground and pound. Over in Pride we see Jackson make a big statement by beating Vovanchyn. Igor is clearly on the slide now but this is the fight that's put Rampage on the mat some what. No other big fights to talk about in Pride. All the big names remain winning in fairly routine fashion. Watched most fights in the first 22 Pride Events now and i can see why people went there ahead of UFC as it had all the drama, the glitz, the fans, the stadiums and people there were national heroes.
Pride 23 This is a stacked card so deserved its own post. Randlemann continues his comeback after two damaging losses to Couture and Lidell. He smashes his opponent here wrestling and striking until he gets side control and smashes the knees in until the ref jumps in. Arona continues his impressive start to life in Pride by winning an enjoyable striking and grappling match. He looked more like a wrestler than a BJJ star here throwing his man around the ring, controlling position and out striking at times. Very good performance by Arona. Fedor makes a huge dent in the HW division with the most vicious ground and pound attack I've seen so far. Sustained throughout the entire fight and aside from one moment of danger he absolutely dominated Heath Herring. Brutal takedowns similar to the type we've seen from Hughes or Jackson and a brutal g&p similar to the type we've seen from Couture and Coleman. Nogueira beats Semmy Schilt and again shows he can out grapple the biggest of foes out there. Ironically over in UFC Rico is calling Nog out to show UFC is better than Pride lol. Nog looks unbeatable ATM. Silva cuts through another opponent in Kanehara and this man who was so easily out struck by Belfort and so easily out grappled by Tito looks to be just about the best MMA fighter we've ever seen. Sakuraba rebounds to a loss to Mirko and submits another opponent but it's clear now his days at the top are gone. What a run he's had but this move up in weight facing Silva and Mirko was suicide. Over in UFC the WW division would have been much better suited for him. Two brutal losses he didn't need to suffer against those men. Can't really hold the Kimo or Igor losses against him as one was his debut against a genuine HW and the other was after a 90 minute battle against another HW sized man. That being said wins over Belfort and Rampage are looking pretty good.
Pride 24 is another stacked card. Rogerio gets his first big victory with a close win over Guy Mezger, will he go on to be as good as his brother or not? Very hard to say at this point. Overeem is a hot prospect in the LHW division, lanky as sin but a deadly Kickboxing attack that few have stood up to so far, no one marquee on his resume as of yet though. He smashes through another opponent here. Randlemann well on the comeback trail here, survives some scary moments when he's pinned down and ultimately forces a stoppage. Looking quite dominant again now, maybe the losses to Couture and Lidell were blips. The loss to Rutten could have easily gone either way and the losses before that can't be held against him. Rodrigo avenged his only career defeat with a very good victory over LHW sensation Dan Henderson. Henderson fought really well here wrestling on top form and out striking at times, but Rod played a patient BJJ game, took him down, secured full mount and locked in the arm bar. Great victory for Nog who's now beaten everyone he's fought. Haven't seen UFC 40 yet, but right now my rankings are looking like this: 1 Wanderlei Silva 2 Kazushi Sakuraba 3 Rodrigo Nogueira 4 Tito Ortiz 5 Royce Gacie 6 Frank Shamrock 7 Mark Coleman 8 Josh Barnett 9 Ricco Rodriguez 10 Randy Couture 11 Matt Hughes 12 Ken Shamrock 13 Jens Pulver 14 Carlos Newton 15 Chuck Lidell 16 Vitor Belfort 17 B.J. Penn 18 Ricardo Arona 19 Dan Henderson 20 Fedor Emelianenko 21 Kevin Randlemann 22 Heath Herring 23 Bas Rutten 24 Igor Vovanchyn 25 Mark Kerr 26 Dan Severn 27 Don Frye 28 Murilo Bustamante 29 Quinton Jackson 30 Pedro Rizzo 31 Renato Sobral 32 Pat Miletich 33 Evan Tanner 34 Jake Shields 35 Hayato Sakurai 36 Caol Uno 37 Takanori Gomi 38 Renzo Gracie 39 Matt Lindland 40 Mirko Filipovic 41 Phil Baroni 42 Rogerio Nogueira 44 Dave Menne 45 Din Thomas
UFC 40 What an awesome card this was. Lawler continued his rise in UFC with another big victory over a lesser opponent. Need to see him in with a world class fighter to evaluate him truly. Carlos Newton wins another fight. I don't care what anyone says, he's better than Pat Miletich, he might have the title defences etc but his level of opposition is higher and his performances are always better. Sakuraba and Hughes aside, Newton is the best WW we've ever seen. Hughes proves his dominance against against the excellent Gil Castillo. Lidell smashes through Babalu in such a big win here, if ever there was a number w contender it's him now. Great win for Lidell who's already one of the best we've ever had. Ortiz beats Shamrock in the grudge match with a hugely dominant performance. Tito doesn't seem to get love in the present day but here back in 2002 he's a god. I do think Wanderlei is slightly better but there isn't an awful lot in it. The p4p top 3 right now has to be Wanderlei, Nog and Ortiz. Sakuraba has has had his moment but that's past now. This event though, UFC has entered the main stream now, all these promoters, games, web chats, it's come so far from an illegal underground tournament. Best moment for me, when Ortiz beat Shamrock he put his t-shirt on, then he saw the look of respect in Ken's eyes, took it off and went over for the hug. Honestly i stood up walking around my room applauding it. Incredible moment.
UFC 41 Rizzo's momentum is at an all time low now as he's out wrestled by Matyushenko and it seems now that his win over Barnett was the blip, not his loss to Randlemann. Fallen completely off the wagon now with a nearly .50 record. Lindland again beats Baroni but again there's room for doubt as Baroni finished incredibly strongly with about 20 unanswered punches. Personally I'd have scored it a draw 28-28 as that finish was very dominant. Both men can take credit here. B.J. Penn seemed to win 4 rounds here but somehow ended up with a draw and no belt, Uno did a lot better than last time out but this was a poor decision imo. Frank Mir shows lessons learnt from his loss to Freeman. He tries to lock in an arm bar, Abbot starts pounding, instead of taking shot trying to submit him, he releases the arm, switches to the ankle and damn near snaps the bone as he taps Tank out under 1 minute. Sylvia was considered all hype, an unbeaten giant with no substance to his resume. A cherry pick gone around as he sprawls every takedown attempt and actually out struck Rizzo from the top before countering him with a huge finish. Liddell is interviewed and expresses his frustration at being sidelined for a title shot again. Feel bad for him because he's been on an absolute tear thus far.
Pride 25 Rogerio wins a fairly routine victory against a lesser known opponent,he should get at Wanderlei sometime soon if not next I'd have thought, although Jackson vs Randlemann is a number 1 contender fight so he may have to wait. Anderson Silva scores his second ATG victory against a WW great in Newton. Tbh he didn't look too good at all, Newton dominates him in the mat, once they are reset he lands a thudding knee and scores the stoppage. Glimpses of future brilliance. Dan Henderson is becoming more fan friendly every fight, his loss to Nog was a brilliant showing and here he fought exceptionally well with a huge right hand to end Oyama and some brutal g&p till the ref jumped in. Sakuraba finally fights against someone his own size and absolutely smacks the **** out of him but then out of nowhere Schembri lands a knee that knocks Saku out cold and he snatches victory from the jaws of defeat, what a comeback that was. Quintin Jackson scored a huge victory, an upset in my eyes, against Kevin Randlemann. The Wrestling of the two was equal, totally negated each other, but Jackson threw a lot of knees in the clinch whereas Kevin was quite inactive in the clinch. After a while Randlemann ties him up, goes to block the knee but eats a huge right hand and gets knocked out. What a victory for Jackson. Big victory for Fedor as his ground and pound attack proves superior to the submission guard attacks by Nogueira. Finally Fedor arrives on the world scene as he pretty much follows the gameplan of Henderson, just with a better submission defence and stronger positional play. Great performance by a great fighter against a great champion. 1 Wanderlei Silva 2 Kazushi Sakuraba 3 Fedor Emelianenko 4 Rodrigo Nogueira 5 Tito Ortiz 6 Royce Gacie 7 Frank Shamrock 8 Mark Coleman 9 Josh Barnett 10 Tim Sylvia 11 Ricco Rodriguez 12 Randy Couture 13 Matt Hughes 14 Chuck Lidell 15 Ken Shamrock 16 Jens Pulver 17 Carlos Newton 18 B.J. Penn 19 Quinton Jackson 20 Vitor Belfort 21 Ricardo Arona 22 Dan Henderson 23 Bas Rutten 24 Kevin Randlemann 25 Heath Herring 26 Igor Vovanchyn 27 Mark Kerr 28 Dan Severn 29 Don Frye 30 Murilo Bustamante 31 Renato Sobral 32 Pat Miletich 33 Evan Tanner 34 Anderson Silva 35 Jake Shields 36 Hayato Sakurai 37 Caol Uno 38 Takanori Gomi 39 Renzo Gracie 40 Matt Lindland 41 Mirko Filipovic 42 Phil Baroni 44 Rogerio Nogueira 45 Dave Menne 46 Din Thomas
Nice going Lufcrazy. I loved, loved, loved Wanderlei in his heyday, he lived up to his hype and then some. I remember him coming in against a boring wrestler lay n pray type and lumping him up. His destruction of spoiler alert This content is protected This content is protected This content is protected
On that note I've just watched Pride 26 Silva is a big favourite going into his fight with Takase but he is completely out grappled, he thinks he sweeps to mount but really he's locked in a triangle choke and he doesn't have the strength to slam. Big upset. Overeem beats another overmatched opponent, don't understand why he isn't fighting better competition yet, he's looking really good in these wins. Jackson keeps momentum going with a dominant victory over Ilyukin, the guy i believe who cheated his way to victory over Couture many years ago. Coleman Vs Frye, meh. Just meh. Cro Cop destroys Herring stood up and this is a big result, no one destroys Herring stood up, in fact he destroyed everyone in striking exchanges, well that's changed tonight. What a performance, very much look Chuck Lidell with his stuff and strike strategy. Fedor, well the reign almost ended with that overhand right but he showed one hell of a chin and more importantly showed that patience on the mat. What we have here is the only wrestler in MMA history comfortable on his back, that's what makes him so dangerous. He isn't obsessed with position, just causing damage. He calmly beats Fujita up then chokes him out, what a performance after that big right was shipped.
Trimmed some fat out. The old HW guard of Severn and Frye didn't make the cut. Vovanchyn and Kerr looked good initially but didn't stand the test of time unfortunately. Herring also started life well but came up short against the more elite fighters. No shame in any of this btw, if i did top 15 lists at HW they'd be making the cut right now.
UFC 42 Ludwig impresses big time here. He's beaten Pulver over in K1 and come over to the UFC as lineal champ. Here he outstruck and out grappled his opponent for a dominant points victory. Him vs Penn is a must see fight now. Franklin announced himself on the world scene with a win over the excellent Tanner, first round stoppage and maybe, just maybe, the MW division is hotting up a bit now. Lawlor proves to be a bit of a hype job with a woeful performance here which sees him verbally submit due to a leg injury. The stoppage was imminent anyways the amount of punishment he took was not healthy. Matt Hughes has a huge huge victory over the highly rate Sean Shark. Makes him make massive jumps up the ATG standing as he's looking very complete now that he's improved his submission game since those Hallman defeats. Some more fat has been trimmed off now, with the amount of fights I've seen i can finally be selective about who makes the ATG lists. Each division is represented by a minimum of 5 fighters and a maximum of 10. To be a true all time great for me your greatness has to past the greatest test of all: time and if at a current point your one of the best 5 to ever lace em up in your division, you're certainly a great. If you're not amongst the 10 greatest in your division, you no longer pass the test of time for me. Someone outside of their division top ten can still be an ATG if they deserve it. This is the way I rank boxing also. I used to obsess over resume and achievements and it would drive me to tears spending hours researching records and articles. Now i just watch them fight and if they're good enough, they make the cut. Here's my newest list as of June 2003: 1 Wanderlei Silva 2 Kazushi Sakuraba 3 Fedor Emelianenko 4 Matt Hughes 5 Rodrigo Nogueira 6 Tito Ortiz 7 Royce Gacie 8 Frank Shamrock 9 Mark Coleman 10 Josh Barnett 11 Tim Sylvia 12 Chuck Lidell 13 Ken Shamrock 14 Carlos Newton 15 Quinton Jackson 16 Ricardo Arona 17 Dan Henderson 18 Duane Ludwig 19 Jens Pulver 20 B.J. Penn 21 Ricco Rodriguez 22 Randy Couture 23 Vitor Belfort 24 Bas Rutten 25 Mirko Filipovic 26 Kevin Randlemann 27 Murilo Bustamante 28 Pat Miletich 29 Rich Franklin 30 Evan Tanner 31 Anderson Silva 32 Jake Shields 33 Hayato Sakurai 34 Caol Uno 35 Takanori Gomi
UFC 43 What a night. Frank Mir wins by DQ but can't take too much credit as in a pride ring he loses by KO here. Belfort wins a very exciting fights where he overwhelms his opponent with the early onslaught. Kimo looks good against Tank who gets paydays for no reason then trash talk these days. It's all about one man though, Randy Couture. What a victory this was. By now everyone is tired of Ortiz ducking Lidell, hiding behind their friendship saying he needs more money, has commitments and a load of other excuses. Lidell has been top contender for at least 2 years and never got his shot. Couture is a 2 time champion on a 2 fight skid. Lidell should have destroyed Couture but instead the opposite happened. Couture out struck and out grappled Lidell for a huge huge victory. He immediately calls out Ortiz and I'm thinking when will he get a break. What a night. Also great seeing Joe Rogan in regularly, so full of energy and he actually knows what he's talking about. What a night.
UFC 44. You know what, no one else is even getting a mention here. At age 40 Couture has just secured back to back victories over Lidell and Ortiz. Not fluke victories, dominant victories. He outstruck Lidell and out grappled Tito. By writes when he's 38 years old tapping out the ground and pound against Ricco he should be retiring then with his head held high. He absolutely should not be dropping a weight class and dominating the 1 and 2 back to back. A performance like this puts him within touching distance of being the goat again. I don't think looking at records does this justice. For those who actually watched at the time this must have been huge. Absolutely huge. I know i didn't watch at the time but I've watched 44 UFC events in a row now so I've been able to experience it myself and I'm in shock. Pride Elimination next. 1 Wanderlei Silva 2 Kazushi Sakuraba 3 Fedor Emelianenko 4 Matt Hughes 5 Rodrigo Nogueira 6 Randy Couture 7 Tito Ortiz 8 Royce Gacie 9 Frank Shamrock 10 Mark Coleman 11 Josh Barnett 12 Tim Sylvia 13 Chuck Lidell 14 Ken Shamrock 15 Carlos Newton 16 Quinton Jackson 17 Ricardo Arona 18 Dan Henderson 19 Duane Ludwig 20 Jens Pulver 21 B.J. Penn 22 Ricco Rodriguez 23 Vitor Belfort 24 Bas Rutten 25 Mirko Filipovic 26 Kevin Randlemann 27 Murilo Bustamante 28 Pat Miletich 29 Rich Franklin 30 Evan Tanner 31 Anderson Silva 32 Jake Shields 33 Hayato Sakurai 34 Takanori Gomi 35 Caol Uno
