Notable first impression

[Credo]

CroCop in da UFC was a weird experience

 

[NicholasJBasile]

I remember watching Usman fight Yakovlev while I was at a pizzeria watching the TV while waiting for my order. He has always come across to me as a smart fighter that does everything you think he should do as a fan, positionally; very satisfying to watch.

 

[HHJ]

changing fighting? absolutely not. giving birth to mma hasn't changed fighting in the real world very much at all honestly.

You must be joking

 

[Khaosan]

Mine was Serigei Kharitonov vs Ninja Rua... his Japanese intro promo & his walk out with his paratrooper uniform then proceeding to beat the brakes off Ninja. First fight I watched of his, really sad we never got to see him vs Fedor

That was such a size and technical mismatch my god.

 

[KAZSoliloquy]

You must be joking

i'm 100% serious. have you gone outside in the last 30 years? there aren't a million royce gracies kneebarring homeless people on the sidewalk. street fights look exactly the same as they did pre-UFC

 

[NoSmilez]

Mike Perry

 

[HHJ]

i'm 100% serious. have you gone outside in the last 30 years? there aren't a million royce gracies kneebarring homeless people on the sidewalk. street fights look exactly the same as they did pre-UFC

People who are unskilled dont automatically become skilled.

Those who actually open to learning things, are of now course aware of the effectiveness of grappling.

 

[KAZSoliloquy]

People who are unskilled dont automatically become skilled.

Those who actually open to learning things, are of now course aware of the effectiveness of grappling.

???? grappling didn't start with royce gracie dude

 

[HHJ]

???? grappling didn't start with royce gracie dude

????

Gracie jiu jitsu opened alot of people's eyes to grappling techniques dude

Esp regarding submissions.

Maybe you should getcha read on

 

[Pancake Sprawl]

Igor Vovchanchyn vs Enson Inoue.

i'm from Hawaii and when i saw this match up i did not know who Igor was because i was really new to MMA when it first occurred and it was very hard to learn about international fighters back then. all i saw was big jacked Enson with traps like Goldberg repping Hawaii, and some fat doughy pasty looking midget Russian who even seemed a little shy and meek during the introductions. i said to my brother: "this pasty little fat dude is about to get FUCKED UP"

well, somebody got fucked up, that's for sure. and since that fight Igor Vovchanchyn was my favorite fighter. he changed how i thought about tough guys, because there is no fucking way a normal person would look at him and think he could beat the fuck out of 3-4 giants at the same time, let alone realize this guy had the punching power of Mike Tyson in his little chubby fists.

he was basically Fedor before Fedor. an unassuming normal looking man who was an absolute animal if you got in a tussle with him.

 

[Dionysian]

Mine was Serigei Kharitonov vs Ninja Rua... his Japanese intro promo & his walk out with his paratrooper uniform then proceeding to beat the brakes off Ninja. First fight I watched of his, really sad we never got to see him vs Fedor

Great call. Specifically his boxing. I remember Bas talking about how he needed to take it down assuming he was a grappler and then BAM... brain injury-inducing striking.

 

[KAZSoliloquy]

????

Gracie jiu jitsu opened alot of people's eyes to grappling techniques dude

Esp regarding submissions.

Maybe you should getcha read on

im sure there were def some people who had never heard of brazilian jiujitsu and searched it out to train but to say royce gracie "changed fighting" more than anyone in "centuries" sounds like some joe rogan hyperbole. mma certainly changed the landscape of combat sports and royce was the first big mma "star" in america, but that's about it.

 

[HHJ]

im sure there were def some people who had never heard of brazilian jiujitsu and searched it out to train but to say royce gracie "changed fighting" more than anyone in "centuries" sounds like some joe rogan hyperbole. mma certainly changed the landscape of combat sports and royce was the first big mma "star" in america, but that's about it.

It's true tho.

 

[TriangleMonkey]

Harold Howard with that look in his eye

 

[KAZSoliloquy]

It's true tho.

i just explained how it's not but alright

 

[GonzagaSokoudjouGuillard]

It was Jones vs Stephan Bonnar for me. I literally had a nightmare the night before about BJ beating GSP because I was so invested in that fight so it was a memorable and important card for me in general which made Jones' fight stand out even more. GSP was my favourite fighter by far at the time as a Canadian and I really disliked like BJ at the time (rich, arrogant guy, riding on talent, whining about getting robbed first fight, TUF 5 behaviour towards Jens, etc). I was in grade 11.

I even remember enjoying Jones' entrance music and the graceful 1-hand cartwheel he did before the fight - continued doing it in subsequent fights but I thought it was cool at the time. Then he tossed Bonnar around like a child. It wasn't especially violent besides that spinning elbow to the back of Bonnar's head (lol) but I was really so amazed by the variety and seeming effortlessness of his takedowns. It was pretty special and probably the only time that I can recall being blown away by a fighter very, very early in their career who then went on to do marvelous things.

Edit: Oh, also I was pretty familiar with Bonnar back then so I knew he wasn't some scrub.