The most important matches in MMA history

[StonedLemur]

Who you got??

Fedor vs Crocop

 

[StonedLemur]

lmao

Thanks for the comedy man

He has a lot of those moments lol.

 

[kfighter]

Most important fight was Rickson vs Nakai

 

[king hippo]

voted fedor/mirko but bonnar/griffin might be the most important. saved the ufc and helped mainstream the sport.

 

[Blanqa Blanqua]

Well. One of these fights got the rules changed forever.

 

[Blanqa Blanqua]

voted fedor/mirko but bonnar/griffin might be the most important. saved the ufc and helped mainstream the sport.

You could say the same thing about Tito.

 

[Dr Fong]

There's a basic timeline of the most important fights for me. These either elevated the sport or were the apex (not the warehouse version) of their particular era.

1. Royce vs Ken 2 (not 1, the tournament itself was the selling point) - first 'superfight'

2. Royce vs Sakuraba

3. Tito vs Ken (arguably saved the UFC)

3. Chuck vs Randy 2 (TUF)

4. Cro Cop vs Fedor

5. Brock vs Mir 2

6. Jacare vs Camozzi 2

7. Conor vs Khabib

 

[king hippo]

You could say the same thing about Tito.

man good point. he really held it up in the dark ages.

 

[Blanqa Blanqua]

For Me it was Fedor Timmah, and Fedor Arlovski, seeing as title say MMA.

 

[TheMaster]

Forrest-Bonnar is by far the "most important" fight. It's the only fight on the list that meaningfully affected the trajectory of the sport.

The Ken Tito fight was huge and just as important. Ken had a massive fanbase and exposure from WWF and the UFC was still basically bush league at that time, this fight really brought the shift to mainstream attention.

 

[SamuraiBro]

Have to go for Forrest vs Bonnar, since it's basically the reason that MMA is thriving and has become pretty much a mainstream sport today.

Without that fight drawing in the casuals and TUF noobs, MMA would still be a risky dink, borderline underground, niche thing (which I understand many Sherdoggers would prefer, I just disagree).

That and Tito vs Ken 1 kept the UFC from going under.

 

[Tweak896]

I guess I would say DC/Jones. But out of these Fedor/Cro Cop.

 

[OldBoy91]

Dis poll rigged.

The title doesn't say " Fight that has your favourite fighter in it".

Sherdoggers gonna sherdogger though.

People here no can read.

 

[Ludwig von Mises]

Forrest-Bonnar is by far the "most important" fight. It's the only fight on the list that meaningfully affected the trajectory of the sport.

Other fights were much bigger in terms of skill, fighter legacy, or any other metric you want to use. But in terms of "most important," Forrest-Bonnar is the obvious choice.

Honorable mention to Royce-Shamrock at UFC 1.

Forrest vs Bonnar was two, regional level bums, bar brawling on Spike TV. It was an example how low the standard was on the American MMA scene was at the time and how low the expectations were from UFC fans and casuals in America. UFC was literally the Bellator of MMA at that time and Forrest-Bonnar was the most important fight they could muster.

Meanwhile in Japan you had Shogun, Fedor, Rampage, Wand and many others fighting on a skill level similar to that of today and even higher in some regards. Dana is lucky in the sense that he was strongly against the idea of TUF and instead wanted to film a realty show about his life in Nevada. Fertitas pulled the trigger on TUF and the rest was history.

While I agree the Forrest-Bonnar fight important it's also sad how shitty the UFC was around that time as a product.

 

[Ludwig von Mises]

For me personally:

Fedor vs Cro Cop

Royce vs Sakuraba

GSP vs Hughes 2

Anderson vs Sonnen

Shogun vs Hendo

 

[Mammothman]

Jon Jones vs Ngannou could have been up there.

I would also add Conor vs Aldo and Carwin vs Lesnar.

 

[Iroh]

For the growth of the sport Conor vs Khabib by many light years, so I voted that. But for me personally, Fedor vs Cro Cop.

 

[Tyler Durden]

Who you got??

I got Fedor/Cro Cop
Skill for skill, prime HW. Didn't disappoint

 

[Davidjacksonjones]

CM Punk vs Micky Gall

 

[moreorless87]

Forrest-Bonnar is by far the "most important" fight. It's the only fight on the list that meaningfully affected the trajectory of the sport.

Other fights were much bigger in terms of skill, fighter legacy, or any other metric you want to use. But in terms of "most important," Forrest-Bonnar is the obvious choice.

Honorable mention to Royce-Shamrock at UFC 1.

The Saku/Royce fight was actually the card Dana took the Ferrita's to in order to convince them to buy the UFC.

I do think if MMA doesnt go mainstream in Japan due to Saku then its likely that never happens, maybe it just slowly dies out, stays as a minority sport or has to wait many more years to become more popular elsewhere.

You could also I spose say Rickson/Takada was very important although I suspect without Saku Pride would have been more of a blip/fad, maybe also that it was actually Saku's wins pre Royce which helped build him up to that level.