Who had hardest and most successful start to their MMA career?

flyingscissorsheelhook said:
Pawel Nastula made his MMA debut against Big Nog in 2005. That is a crazy debut fight.
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just goes to show the shit matchmaking that Pride had back in the day..Nagata is another example.. only fought twice in MMA and his opponents were crocop and fedor
 
Lesnar. Nowadays under new WME management he'd have a TS right away first fight.
 
beaglepuss said:
First name to come to mind for me as well. He fought Big Nog, Aleks E., and Josh Barnett all within his first four fights. It’s going to be hard to top that.
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Guile said:
just goes to show the shit matchmaking that Pride had back in the day..Nagata is another example.. only fought twice in MMA and his opponents were crocop and fedor
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Pride had a different way of doing things for sure. If you had any kind of Olympic or High Level Judo or wrestling background you got thrown to the lions on day one.

Making your debut against a top 3 ranked heavyweight for your first fight is insane.

Same story with Yoshida. First fight was Don Frye, then he fought Satake, Tamura and Wanderlei Silva in his first 4. Not so much Satake but Frye, Tamura and especially Wanderlei are serious competiton in 2002-2003.
 
Sapp said:
Hard to top Bork.

Sokoudjo also had a murderers row. Glover, Little Nog, Arona, and Machida all in his first 6 fights.

James Toney too, haha. Pretty tough debut. Hardest, but not most successful, clearly.
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You mention Soko but not Machida himself?

Machida went 15-0 up to the UFC belt vs MMA and K-1 greats, experienced veterans, undefeated prospects, future/ex-champions and hype trains!
  • Bonnar: future TUF finalist.
  • Franklin: future UFC champ, 14-0 at the time.
  • McDonald: HW kickboxer, 3-time K-1 Grand Prix Champ.
  • Greco: SuperHW K-1 kickboxer, WAKO and WKO champ.
  • BJ fucking Penn: future UFC champ in 2 weight classes!
  • Vernon White: experienced MMA veteran.
  • Heath: undefeated 9-0 at the time.
  • Sokoudjou: just KOd Lill'Nog and Arona, super hyped.
  • Tito Ortiz: ex UFC champ, experienced veteran.
  • Thiago Silva: undefeated 13-0 with 12 brutal finishes!
  • Evans: undefeated 13-0 champ.
 
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Jouban. First amateur fight 15sec tko. First pro fight 14sec ko.
 
JoeRoganade said:
It's quality over quantity. Ronda shouldn't be on that list seeing how she was fed cans that catered to her one dimensional fighting style.
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Cans? So Meishas a can based on ur dumb comment

Stupid hater can say all the bs, what a loser
 
Guile said:
Some guys get thrown to the wolves right away and not many have success but some do. What are some examples of fighters who had a tough lineup of opponents at the start of their MMA career? (8 fights or less)

Mark Hunt: started his career 5-1 with wins over Wanderlei, Cro Cop and Kohsaka

Joe Warren: started his career 7-1 with wins over Beebe, Kid Yamamoto, Karakhanyan, Patricio Freire, Soto and Marcos Galvao.

Muhammad "King Mo" Lawal: started his career 7-0 with wins over Travis Wiuff, Mark Kerr and Gegard Mousasi.

Brock Lesnar: started his career 5-1 with wins over Herring, Mir, Couture and Carwin.

Ronda Rousey: started her career 8-0 with wins over Julia Budd, Tate x2, Kaufman and Carmouche.
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Came to say joe warren, king mo, and Brock. Read op thus have nothing to contribute.
 
Guile said:
she was only 4-0 when she first fought Tate who was just coming off a sub win over Marloes Coenen to win the BW belt.
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No she fought a bunch of soccer moms who had no technique or any mma abilities and as soon as she fought some quality opponents she got KTFO.
Her super human aura and her one in a lifetime athlete crap disappeared, everyone believed her hype.
Only a few of us knew she was one dimensional and the ufc was picking up easy fights for her so she could shine and look unstoppable.
 
"When I was 11 years old, I was hit by a truck. I was behind the truck and we were playing. The guy put on the truck and pulled back in reverse very fast. I couldn't get out of the way. And the tire come through my body, my belly, my legs and my shoulders. I was in the hospital for 11 months. I was in a coma for one week. I had a lot of surgeries. I broke the muscles off my lungs. I had a hard time there. I couldn't walk for almost one year. They said I wouldn't be able to walk. I did a lot of physical therapy to do that again. ... That's why I build up my body and I start to to do swimming, Judo. I think that helps to build up my body. But the accident makes my heart tough. That's what I think." -Antonio Rodrigo "Big Nog" Nogueira
 
Guile said:
she was only 4-0 when she first fought Tate who was just coming off a sub win over Marloes Coenen to win the BW belt.
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Nevermind the fact that women's MMA back then was like men's MMA from the mid to late 90s. Even now the talent level in women's MMA is still probably 10 years behind. Ronda's opponents may have had decent records on paper, and one or two opponents may have been "strikers", but relative to what those definitions mean in the men's divisions you may as well called her opponents cans.
 
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