Who are the biggest MMA stars in the U.S. outside of the UFC????
- Thread starter Lionheart7167
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ONE: I'd actually venture to say Aoki is their most popular fighter in the U.S.. Aoki was more well-known in DREAM than Bibiano was, and DREAM was more popular in America than ONE is, so it's a little silly to. Besides, you see people more often casually bring up Aoki than they do Bibiano; Aoki has some shoopable pictures and memes attached to him. If you're not a fan of the Asian scene, the only things you see brought up with Bibiano casually are "I'd like to see him in the UFC." After that it'd be Angela Lee, just because she's cute and you know how people get with cute girl fighters.
RIZIN: Cro Cop's situation's hard to say since he's in Bellator too, and you can't say Kyoji cuz' he consistently got a "who?" whenever his fights were announced in the UFC, which, even said facetiously, isn't a good sign for a fighter's regional popularity. It's probably a pretty even split between Gomi and McCall after that, and maybe Sakuraba if you include grappling matches.
Professional Fighter's League: Jake Shields, then Will Brooks after him. The PFL's in the need for some stars; Blagoy Ivanov ain't gonna do shit for 'em unless he dominates their tournament in highlight-reel fashion.
KSW: Mamed Khalidov. Being a strongman is a very obscure thing in America, unlike in Poland, so Pudz isn't really well-known. Mamed's gotten more MMA media attention in America.
Road FC: This might be controversial, but it may actually be Choi Hong-Man. Fedor fighting him has almost 6 million views; who else fighting in ROAD can say that? He hasn't fought in 2016, but I can't see anything about him retiring, so I included him in the roster.
Japan-
Eastern Europe-
RIZIN: Cro Cop's situation's hard to say since he's in Bellator too, and you can't say Kyoji cuz' he consistently got a "who?" whenever his fights were announced in the UFC, which, even said facetiously, isn't a good sign for a fighter's regional popularity. It's probably a pretty even split between Gomi and McCall after that, and maybe Sakuraba if you include grappling matches.
Professional Fighter's League: Jake Shields, then Will Brooks after him. The PFL's in the need for some stars; Blagoy Ivanov ain't gonna do shit for 'em unless he dominates their tournament in highlight-reel fashion.
KSW: Mamed Khalidov. Being a strongman is a very obscure thing in America, unlike in Poland, so Pudz isn't really well-known. Mamed's gotten more MMA media attention in America.
Road FC: This might be controversial, but it may actually be Choi Hong-Man. Fedor fighting him has almost 6 million views; who else fighting in ROAD can say that? He hasn't fought in 2016, but I can't see anything about him retiring, so I included him in the roster.
Japan-
Shooto (the fact that Shooto doesn't deserve a top spot on these kinds of lists anymore hurts my heart in a way few can understand): Hiromasa Ogikubo. He was the runner-up on the TUF: Champions season, a top-15 flyweight, and he holds a victory over Pantoja in the TUF house and deserved the decision against Tim Elliot. More people know of him than anyone else in Shooto right now. After that it's Tyson Osawa, who was on that TUF Japan show but lost against Mizuto Hirota in the quarter-finals.
Pancrase: Hatsu Hioki. Hioki getting KO'd got more notoriety than anything else Pancrase has been doing lately, including Hioki winning.
DEEP: I'd say Imanari. It's either him or Otsuka, since DEEP has no western presence so you have to go by what guys in DEEP have done bigger things, and Imanari has history behind him while Otsuka was a semi-finalist in the RIZIN tournament, which was pretty popular in America as far as things going on MMA-wise in Japan go. Imanari fought in ONE last, but he's still mainly with DEEP and I doubt his next fight won't be there, so, you know...
ZST (@tinobar could answer this better than me): Shunichi Shimizu is probably more well-known in America than anyone else in ZST. He fought in the UFC, which I don't think anyone else in ZST can say, and he's been involved in some gif-able moments (like his back-side kick to the groin knockout loss in China) and has fought in Pancrase a lot, which is fairly popular on Fight Pass. Is anyone else more known in America fighting in ZST than that?
Pancrase: Hatsu Hioki. Hioki getting KO'd got more notoriety than anything else Pancrase has been doing lately, including Hioki winning.
DEEP: I'd say Imanari. It's either him or Otsuka, since DEEP has no western presence so you have to go by what guys in DEEP have done bigger things, and Imanari has history behind him while Otsuka was a semi-finalist in the RIZIN tournament, which was pretty popular in America as far as things going on MMA-wise in Japan go. Imanari fought in ONE last, but he's still mainly with DEEP and I doubt his next fight won't be there, so, you know...
ZST (@tinobar could answer this better than me): Shunichi Shimizu is probably more well-known in America than anyone else in ZST. He fought in the UFC, which I don't think anyone else in ZST can say, and he's been involved in some gif-able moments (like his back-side kick to the groin knockout loss in China) and has fought in Pancrase a lot, which is fairly popular on Fight Pass. Is anyone else more known in America fighting in ZST than that?
Eastern Europe-
Fight Nights: Bigfoot Silva. Bigfoot's main-evented UFC pay per-views. Minakov's more popular than that?
ACB: Probably a tie between Thiago Silva (a fan-favorite when he was in the UFC) and Takeya Mizugaki.
M-1: Alexander Shlemenko. He still has a contract with M-1 technically and he's a free agent from Bellator, so he qualifies.
Akhmat FC: Probably Frodo Khasbulaev. He won a Bellator tournament, and I can't think of anyone else fighting in Akhmat that has that much American exposure.
ACB: Probably a tie between Thiago Silva (a fan-favorite when he was in the UFC) and Takeya Mizugaki.
M-1: Alexander Shlemenko. He still has a contract with M-1 technically and he's a free agent from Bellator, so he qualifies.
Akhmat FC: Probably Frodo Khasbulaev. He won a Bellator tournament, and I can't think of anyone else fighting in Akhmat that has that much American exposure.
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Probably one of the older fighters Bellator have.
