Randy, Chuck, Tito, Vitor, Ken

[Ultra O’Dia]

what´s yours?

i see Chuck and Randy as elite
Vitor as great but inconsistent, Tito as not great but real consistent

and Ken

listen. when i was young and this first came out, Ken was number 2. He was built, i believed in the Lion’s Den, thought he would kill Tito when he was over the cage yelling after the Mezger fight, but... he was just a juiced up middleweight with nothing aside from good leglocks. His heart quit against Fujita, Frye smashed him... he lost every significant fight he had, and his lack of skills and fight IQ were obvious. It was clear to me that he was only a big deal because the first few UFCs really sucked.

I know he beat Bas, but this was back before people knew grappling mattered. His grappling, aside from leglocks, really wasnt even good, just better than most people at the time. I believe Bas ended up better on the ground once he had trained it for a couple of years.

 

[gono btw]

i see Chuck and Randy as elite
Vitor as great but inconsistent, Tito as not great but real consistent

and Ken

listen. when i was young and this first came out, Ken was number 2. He was built, i believed in the Lion’s Den, thought he would kill Tito when he was over the cage yelling after the Mezger fight, but... he was just a juiced up middleweight with nothing aside from good leglocks. His heart quit against Fujita, Frye smashed him... he lost every significant fight he had, and his lack of skills and fight IQ were obvious. It was clear to me that he was only a big deal because the first few UFCs really sucked.

I know he beat Bas, but this was back before people knew grappling mattered. His grappling, aside from leglocks, really wasnt even good, just better than most people at the time. I believe Bas ended up better on the ground once he had trained it for a couple of years.

yeah, but he was already past his prime in Pride... So his 2nd UFC run...

 

[gono btw]

i see Chuck and Randy as elite
Vitor as great but inconsistent, Tito as not great but real consistent

and Ken

listen. when i was young and this first came out, Ken was number 2. He was built, i believed in the Lion’s Den, thought he would kill Tito when he was over the cage yelling after the Mezger fight, but... he was just a juiced up middleweight with nothing aside from good leglocks. His heart quit against Fujita, Frye smashed him... he lost every significant fight he had, and his lack of skills and fight IQ were obvious. It was clear to me that he was only a big deal because the first few UFCs really sucked.

I know he beat Bas, but this was back before people knew grappling mattered. His grappling, aside from leglocks, really wasnt even good, just better than most people at the time. I believe Bas ended up better on the ground once he had trained it for a couple of years.

U should bear in mind that, for instance, he nullified Beast´s wrestling... that was no small feat, even though Dan was obviously past his physical prime.

In Pancrase, he had a remarkable career too, but people no longer hespect.

One of Ken´s problem was that he didnt seem able to adapt his game to a specific fight configuration & organization.

He was jumping from org to org, and wasnt aware of it.

That´s why he basically fought Hoyce 1 with a Pancrase mindset.

 

[Cheap Shot]

Without the Tito and Ken rivalry, I honestly don't know if the sport would have gotten to TUF and then ultimately blowing up. They really carried the promotion for a while, and you kinda have to tip your hat at that.

Ken was a generation behind the rest of that group. He was one of the first well rounded fighters who had both serviceable stand up coupled with a really solid ground game. He had the "look" of a fighter at a time when most didn't, and when NHB/MMA was teetering on extinction, that helped people tune in.

Tito, Randy, and Chuck are a notch above Vitor IMO. Randy was able to beat much larger men and play spoiler to many top 205's. Chuck perfected the sprawl and brawl and shredded top wrestlers and strikers alike. Though it was at the time a thin division, Tito was the first to truly dominate a weight class. Sure, Royce won the early tournaments, but those were designed to show off Gracie jujitsu. Tito swept up the division with relative ease at a time when people (other than Hughes a little later on) were splitting wins and losses.

Vitor was a monster, but was just too inconsistent in his career. Randy has some spots early on in organizations that didn't play well to his strengths, or when he ran into a massive or juiced up heavyweight. Tito and Chuck stuck around too long and their records suffered as a result, but Vitor was dropping winable fights too often in his prime. I rarely call a win lucky, but his eye cut stoppage on Randy was a complete fluke, and it showed in their rematch.

So:

Randy, Chuck, Tito
Vitor
Ken

Though each played an incredibly important part of building the sport.

 

[BRUNKBOY]

My favorites to watch in order...This is speaking as of RIGHT now....Some/all of these guys were the ones who got me excited about MMA in the beginning. But looking back; this says whose fights I'd watch again in which order at age 43.
1. Chuck
2. Vitor
3. Randy
4. Tito
5. Ken