The real MMA Hall of Fame

[Cbear]

Ok, if we really did a worldwide MMA Hall of Fame it would look alot different from the UFC version. Here are a few people I think deserve to get in based on their effect or impact on mma in general.

Mitsuyo Maeda (Count Koma/Count Combat). This Judoka/professional wrestler was the man who took Judo to Brazil teaching Carlos Gracie and starting the Gracie lineage of BJJ. Had Maeda not gone to Brazil we may not have had BJJ, the UFC or Japanese mma.

Antonio Inoki- Japanese pro wrestler, protege of Rikidozen who was trained by Karl Gotch in shooting and Karate as a child. Inoki took part in the first professional mma fight of modern times vs Muhammed Ali. He did other shoot fights (some were works and some legit) and later was a patron to Lyoto Machida bringing him to the publics attention.

Satoryu Sayama (Tiger Mask). Japanese puroresu pro wrestler founded Shooto in 1985 wanting to create a new breed of pro wrestling without predetermined finishes

Akira Maeda. Japanese pro wrestler who founded the RINGS promotion and brought Big Nog and Fedore to the world. He fought Russian wrestling legend Alexander Karelin in his only mma match, drawing a 2.5 million dollar gate in 1999. Others who fought in RINGS were Hendo, Randy and Jeremy Horn.

Nobuhiko Takada. The man most remember for wearing the diaper and beating the drums on Pride shows or as Generalissimo Takada was much more important to mma than that. He was a pro wrestler who learned to shoot from karl Gotch and was a star for New Japan Pro Wrestling before starting the UWF and later UWFI where Kazushi Sakuraba and Kiyoshi Tamura. Takada was such a big star that Pride FC was created for him to face Rickson Gracie. There would have been no Pride without Takada.

Kazushi Sakuraba. Pro wrestler under Takada who learned to shoot and became Prides biggest star when it was on the verge of financial trouble. His run as the the Gracie Hunter took Pride to new heights and he became the biggest Japanese mma star of all time.

Rickson Gracie. He was the other half of the reason Pride was invented so deserves in for that.

Art Davie and Rorian Gracie. Created the UFC.

Lorenzo Fertitta and Dana White. Saved the UFC and took it to the juggernaut it is today.

Tito Ortiz. Not just a decorated fighter who held the light heavyweight belt for 5 years, he was the Sakuraba of the UFC in that it was his star power that kept the promotion alive in the pre-zuffa years. He was managed by Dana White so without Tito the UFC would have just closed its doors instead of Dana talking the Fertittas into buying it Titos starpower keeping it alive.

Royce Gracie. Literally changed everyones idea of what a fighter was with one ppv.

Karl Gotch (Istaz). Belgian Olympian in wrestling, he became a pro wrestler and learned shooting. He later was ground zero in teaching shooting to Japanese pro wrestlers which would grow into mma.

Mark Coleman. The original wrestler in mma who invented ground and pound. Not many can say they invented a fighting technique. A star in both the U.S. and Japan.

[flarg]

If there was a MMA HOF, half of the members would not be Japenese Pro Wrestlers, and how could you not include Masakatsu Funaki?



Anyway, if the MMA HOF needed a charter class, it should include the following fighters: Ken Shamrock, Randy Couture, Kazushi Sakuraba, Chuck Liddell, Fedor, and Frank Shamrock.

An entire wing should be dedicated to the Gracies.

Dana, Lorenzo, Miletich and Funaki should all get in as well for what they did outside of the octagon and ring as well as inside.

[Cbear]

If there was a MMA HOF, half of the members would not be Japenese Pro Wrestlers, and how could you not include Masakatsu Funaki?



Anyway, if the MMA HOF needed a charter class, it should include the following fighters: Ken Shamrock, Randy Couture, Kazushi Sakuraba, Chuck Liddell, Fedor, and Frank Shamrock.

An entire wing should be dedicated to the Gracies.

Dana, Lorenzo, Miletich and Funaki should all get in as well for what they did outside of the octagon and ring as well as inside.

funaki is another pioneer for sure. There are alot of fighters Id put in. I was listing influential people and the gracies transcend all as ufc and pride were both created around them.

[dhk1980]

u ****ers might as well put everybody in.

[Lemony Snicket]

How about Helio Gracie? lol And Fedor, Cro Cop, Nog etc. It all starts with Helio though. His arrogance created the sport and the UFC.

[Greezy]

How about Helio Gracie? lol And Fedor, Cro Cop, Nog etc. It all starts with Helio though. His arrogance created the sport and the UFC.

what about god. without him helio wouldn't exsist!

[bhorrrr]

cbear wasn't saying that would BE the hall of fame, just that the hall would include those guys.

which is important, because honestly, the hall of famers from the second gen on are pretty easy to spot. it'd just feel silly if we were "discussing" whether fedor, nog, cro cop, randy, tito, chuck, wand, etc actually got in. that's fairly unanimous.

what gets interesting is when you discuss a guy like vitor, lindland, arona, etc. guys who've had success and were feared, but not on the same level as the no brainers.

where do you draw the line in your personal hall? do you only want guys who are legends on a no brainer type of level? do you want to let in guys with long, fruitful careers with big orgs, but were never quite the very best?

that question is really all that the hall of fame debates are about. where is your line? who is the least successful fighter that you're willing to let in? the guy who, everyone below him is just an "alllmost, but not quiiite 'hall of fame' worthy"?

[Lemony Snicket]

Id think Vitor is a pretty unaminous choice.

[dhk1980]

what gets interesting is when you discuss a guy like vitor, lindland, arona, etc. guys who've had success and were feared, but not on the same level as the no brainers.

those guys are not HOF'ers.

[Spectre]

those guys are not HOF'ers.

Arona defeated your boy. How you feel?