Speculate about how the history of mixed martial arts would have turned out differently if a modern version of Machida entered UFC-1, and all of the UFCs thereafter.
He would have won every single fight he was in for quite a while. Great TDD, a BJJ blackbelt, great stand up, hard to hit. Basically he would destroy everybody until evolved or he was met by some huge wrestler like Kerr, who could take him down and keep him there was involved.
Nobody can beat him now Ok, arguably Shogun beat him but Shogun is the best LHW ever (IMO based on ability). But Absolutely nobody would come close to beating him back then.
A few speculations... 1) Early MMA would have evolved more along striking lines, and perhaps the grapplers would have been discouraged from early competition after Machida massacred his first couple opponents. Paradoxically, MMA's development might have slowed down thanks to Machida. 2) More TMA'ists would enter the early UFCs. Especially traditional karatekas. This might not necessarily be a bad thing IF it encourages regular TMA dojos/dojangs to use full contact sparring. Then again, they probably would look at Machida's success as a confirmation of their abilities, and do nothing. UFC-1's "wake up call" to the martial arts community would be muffled. 3) Without Royce Gracie's victory in the first UFC, I'm not sure where the funding would come from. That being said, the early UFCs were enough of a spectacle that they might succeed. 4) Severn might not enter, or might be barred from doing so. In either event, if Machida knocks him out, you can say goodbye to the Colemans, Fryes, and similar fighters for quite a while. Not forever, of course, but a while. 5) Judo would probably become the standard grappling system rather than a BJJ / wrestling combo--unless Machida submits most of his opponents with his own BJJ skills, which I doubt he would need to. 6) I wonder what the effect on PRIDE would be, and how its predecessor Vale Tudo Japan would have looked....
This raises a thought; I think that the early Japanese grappling, like we saw in RINGS and Shooto, would have been more influential for a longer period of time and a larger area.
I wish people still wore uniforms of their respective styles. This way it doesn't look so much like brosport. anyone know, who is the highest level kyokushinkai fighter to ever enter UFC? (ufc specifically)
I would say Semmy Schilt, won 2 European championships; not to mention his obvious huge accomplishments in K1. People forget he fought in the UFC twice; beat Pete Williams, lost to Barnett. There might be somebody more accomplished in kyokushin, but even then I would imagine Schilt would out karate them in an MMA fight, sort of like GSP does to wrestlers.
