Are Dan Severn's post 1990s MMA fights all staged exhibitions?

[Andy]

I assume 'The Beast' was booked on indy level MMA shows because he was a fairly big name in the 90s and his inclusion on the card was likely to attract a bigger crowd.

He probably explained to the promoters that he was unwilling to fight in a shoot and so hoodwinking the audience was the only possible compromise.

Worked MMA fights should be advertised as that.

It's like advertising legit gucci shoes but sending your customers fake ones.

The illusion of real gucci shoes is there but it's still fraud by deception.

 

[Andy]

Just to show that I'm not trying to completely bury Severn on this thread......

Here is some footage of him being awesome.

 

[Fluffernutter]

What about Travis Fulton?

 

[cheesus]

I've always found it a bit odd, the guy has a record of 127 fights with only 19 losses ? He's only been ko'd three times and that was really late in his career...how can you only be ko'd three times out of 127 fights when fighting at HW ? Even if they're are against tomato cans, heavyweights can crack and it only takes one punch with those tiny ass gloves and it's not like Severn ever had decent striking.

The only time he fought a remotely name worthy fighters (And usually lost, to the likes of mid tier guys like Tony Bonello, James Thompson, Dave Legano, Victor Valikmaki) was usually in a decent regional show like KOTC, Cage Rage, MFC...all these other promotions I don't know any of those fighters.

 

[cheesus]

I think he was one or two confirmed works. I believe Shannon Ritch was involved which is no surprise. He for sure has more potentially worked fights also you're right

Shannon Ritch has 45 submission losses, that has to be the record for most submission losses for apparently, a BJJ blackbelt.

 

[Andy]

What about Travis Fulton?

I watched the 1998 fight....besides a few stiff knees to the top of Fulton's head, it all looked a bit suspect to me but I can't be 100% sure.

A worked shoot with a few stiff shots seems likely, but I'm not certain.

They had a rematch in 2001 and I haven't watched it, but any Severn fight after the Pedro Rizzo fight in 2000 is most probably some form of contrived exhibition.

 

[Andy]

I've always found it a bit odd, the guy has a record of 127 fights with only 19 losses ? He's only been ko'd three times and that was really late in his career...how can you only be ko'd three times out of 127 fights when fighting at HW ? Even if they're are against tomato cans, heavyweights can crack and it only takes one punch with those tiny ass gloves and it's not like Severn ever had decent striking.

The only time he fought a remotely name worthy fighters (And usually lost, to the likes of mid tier guys like Tony Bonello, James Thompson, Dave Legano, Victor Valikmaki) was usually in a decent regional show like KOTC, Cage Rage, MFC...all these other promotions I don't know any of those fighters.

The James Thompson fight was ridiculous.

It looked like The Incredible Hulk vs ET........and for some reason ET didn't get murdered.

Nobody was hitting anyone with any force.

I've seen more brutality in Fencing <45>

 

[DaPunkMinowaMan]

Just to show that I'm not trying to completely bury Severn on this thread......

Here is some footage of him being awesome.

yeah... I mean... Macias was a WW with no ground game at that time ...

 

[Andy]

yeah... I mean... Macias was a WW with no ground game at that time ...

Both guys bring whatever they've got.

Severn won fair and square.

Whose fault is it that Macias had no ground game?

What was Severn expected to do? Not use his instinctive wrestling ability?

Severn had no striking game.

It was a striker vs a wrestler and the wrestler won.

Those german suplexes were badass. That video shows Dan Severn being awesome.

 

[DaPunkMinowaMan]

Both guys bring whatever they've got.

Severn won fair and square.

Whose fault is it that Macias had no ground game?

What was Severn expected to do? Not use his instinctive wrestling ability?

Severn had no striking game.

It was a striker vs a wrestler and the wrestler won.

Those german suplexes were badass. That video shows Dan Severn being awesome.

 

[DaPunkMinowaMan]

Both guys bring whatever they've got.

Severn won fair and square.

Whose fault is it that Macias had no ground game?

What was Severn expected to do? Not use his instinctive wrestling ability?

Severn had no striking game.

It was a striker vs a wrestler and the wrestler won.

Those german suplexes were badass. That video shows Dan Severn being awesome.

His victories over Oleg, Beneteau etc... are more impressive IMO.

 

[ShinkanPo]

His victories over Oleg, Beneteau etc... are more impressive IMO.

Oleg got kneed as fuck!!

 

[Andy]

Here's the 1998 match against Travis Fulton.



Work or Shoot?



I think it's a work.

The mat took the majority of the impact from the knee strikes. Everything else was just rolling around and weak punches that wouldn't hurt an insect.

 

[Mbetz1981]

Dan had plenty of real wins throughout his career, but also plenty of fake ones as well.

His first fake mma fight that I'm aware of was at U-Japan against Mitsuhiro Matsunaga, and it was a hilariously bad one at that. He basicaly shot a double, then proceeded to pick up Matsunsga several times and slam him, in a pro wrestling style.

Then after a suplex, he put him in a obviously fake straight armbar . Not one punch was thrown, and shamefully, it was the only worked match on the U-Japan card.

D-Lo Brown also talked about working a match with Severn on a supposed mma event, (not sure which one), where they were hoodwinking the fans...

Basically if he was willing to do works in 96... he was probably willing to do them at any point in his carrer. (Not to mention that he was a Professional Wrestler before the UFC.)

 

[HI SCOTT NEWMAN]

Dan Severn vs Tony Bonello was a fake fight, 100% work.

I love Dan though, he is awesome and a true gentleman and most of his fights were real. I have seen him fight in person live. Great guy.

 

[Mbetz1981]

Dan Severn vs Tony Bonello was a fake fight, 100% work.

I love Dan though, he is awesome and a true gentleman and most of his fights were real. I have seen him fight in person live. Great guy.

I was a huge fan of Dan Severn back in the early UFC days, and was ecstatic when he won the Ultimate Ultimate.

I also knew that he was a pro wrestler in those days, (he was in fact the NWA champion at the time), However, knowing what I know now, my respect has dropped some.

It's just not cool showing up to events that everyone expects to be legitimate and rolling a work, just to grab a quick paycheck, but he's still a pioneer in our sport, and yes I think that most of his wins are legit, but there are a number of works mixed in as well.

 

[HI SCOTT NEWMAN]

I was a huge fan of Dan Severn back in the early UFC days, and was ecstatic when he won the Ultimate Ultimate.

I also knew that he was a pro wrestler in those days, (he was in fact the NWA champion at the time), However, knowing what I know now, my respect has dropped some.

It's just not cool showing up to events that everyone expects to be legitimate and rolling a work, just to grab a quick paycheck, but he's still a pioneer in our sport, and yes I think that most of his wins are legit, but there are a number of works mixed in as well.

Yeah he was awesome back in the day, I'm pretty certain all of his UFC fights were real. I know his fight with Tony Bonello was fake because Tony is in prison and he is a real gangster and he was like 14-0 in MMA and he would submit everyone in about 30 seconds with ease but they were all works, and Dan was one of them. He was even on some MTV show where he admitted his fights were fixed bar a few later on. I think he is in prison now.

I have seen Severn fight once in person live and the fight was totally legit, his opponent was cut badly and looked like his nose was broke and was bleeding everywhere and the doctor stopped the fight at the end of the 1st round, looked as real as anything to me.

 

[Mbetz1981]

One of my former trainers John "Reverend "Jensen fought him at Kotc 14, and lost to him. so even past 2000 he was a real opponent, but he partly tranished his legacy with the unnecessary works.

 

[Bluesbreaker]

yeah... I mean... Macias was a WW with no ground game at that time ...

Both guys bring whatever they've got.

Severn won fair and square.

Whose fault is it that Macias had no ground game?

What was Severn expected to do? Not use his instinctive wrestling ability?

Severn had no striking game.

It was a striker vs a wrestler and the wrestler won.

Those german suplexes were badass. That video shows Dan Severn being awesome.

Macias was a wrestler as well. He just wasn't billed as such. He was also 1/100 the size of Severn.

 

[Mbetz1981]

Macias was a wrestler as well. He just wasn't billed as such. He was also 1/100 the size of Severn.

By 96 Macias was a good, well rounded, fighter for his day. He had good kickboxing skills, and a mean heel hook. It's really a shame he took that dive against Taktarov, as he could have probably been used more in the UFC had he not done that.

As it stands he had a decent carrer afterwards, and he even won a couple of tournaments in 96.