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Old news.
An underrated, oft-forgotten slam is when Wand slammed Sakuraba so hard he broke his collarbone to win the PRIDE MW title at PRIDE 17.
And then one of the most underrated displays of grappling dominance was courtesy of Sean Sherk in his lone PRIDE appearance - which is unfortunate because before he became the UFC LW champ I think that he could've had a very successful PRIDE run had they invited him back, but they probably knew that he'd be a nightmare for Gomi and Sakurai - where he absolutely mauled Ryuki Ueyama, slamming him multiple times and eliciting multiple comparisons to Rampage's violent style of wrestling.
Forgot about the Sherk fight. It really hammers home what a weapon knees to a grounded opponent can be for a good wrestler with top control.
Since this thread is still going, and since I love going old school, and since Fedor the GOAT is on the list as the slammed rather than the slammer, here's my pick not for the most violent slam but for the slickest slam. Not bone-crushing or fight-ending, but so fast, so smooth, so technical, and so ego-crushing, that even without the violence it was still so demoralizing and was really the final nail in the coffin for his opponent: Fedor's suplex on Heath Herring in the fight that put him on the map as the newest and biggest threat in the HW division.
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And then with sound
Oh yeah. Coleman lost his headbutts in the UFC, but then he went to PRIDE and showed off his new GNP weapon by kneeing Igor into submission and Allan Goes into oblivion. Plus, going in the other direction, the sprawl-and-brawler striker gets the benefit of being able to punish wrestlers spamming TDs and knee from the front headlock, which both Igor and Heath Herring were able to do to Mark Kerr. I love elbows and I really hated that PRIDE didn't have them - just imagine Tito Ortiz or Matt Hughes without elbows, and imagine Rampage or Fedor with elbows! - but elbows are sort of "extra" while knees to the head on the ground always felt more "essential" to me, such a key weapon available from so many angles in so many directions from offense to defense, for wrestlers and strikers.
Here we are again reminiscing about MMA days of old
![]()
Since this thread is still going, and since I love going old school, and since Fedor the GOAT is on the list as the slammed rather than the slammer, here's my pick not for the most violent slam but for the slickest slam. Not bone-crushing or fight-ending, but so fast, so smooth, so technical, and so ego-crushing, that even without the violence it was still so demoralizing and was really the final nail in the coffin for his opponent: Fedor's suplex on Heath Herring in the fight that put him on the map as the newest and biggest threat in the HW division.
![]()
And then with sound
Oh yeah. Coleman lost his headbutts in the UFC, but then he went to PRIDE and showed off his new GNP weapon by kneeing Igor into submission and Allan Goes into oblivion. Plus, going in the other direction, the sprawl-and-brawler striker gets the benefit of being able to punish wrestlers spamming TDs and knee from the front headlock, which both Igor and Heath Herring were able to do to Mark Kerr. I love elbows and I really hated that PRIDE didn't have them - just imagine Tito Ortiz or Matt Hughes without elbows, and imagine Rampage or Fedor with elbows! - but elbows are sort of "extra" while knees to the head on the ground always felt more "essential" to me, such a key weapon available from so many angles in so many directions from offense to defense, for wrestlers and strikers.
Here we are again reminiscing about MMA days of old
![]()
An underrated, oft-forgotten slam is when Wand slammed Sakuraba so hard he broke his collarbone to win the PRIDE MW title at PRIDE 17.
And then one of the most underrated displays of grappling dominance was courtesy of Sean Sherk in his lone PRIDE appearance - which is unfortunate because before he became the UFC LW champ I think that he could've had a very successful PRIDE run had they invited him back, but they probably knew that he'd be a nightmare for Gomi and Sakurai - where he absolutely mauled Ryuki Ueyama, slamming him multiple times and eliciting multiple comparisons to Rampage's violent style of wrestling.
An underrated, oft-forgotten slam is when Wand slammed Sakuraba so hard he broke his collarbone to win the PRIDE MW title at PRIDE 17.
And then one of the most underrated displays of grappling dominance was courtesy of Sean Sherk in his lone PRIDE appearance - which is unfortunate because before he became the UFC LW champ I think that he could've had a very successful PRIDE run had they invited him back, but they probably knew that he'd be a nightmare for Gomi and Sakurai - where he absolutely mauled Ryuki Ueyama, slamming him multiple times and eliciting multiple comparisons to Rampage's violent style of wrestling.
The way Herrings legs fly up in the air, man Fedor was such machine.
It would have been great to see Sherk more in Pride. I think Gomi in his prime beats him but Sakurai didn't have as good of TDD. Sherk with grounded knees looked a lot more dangerous.
Sherk would've mauled Gomi. Shame the brief time both were still in the UFC they never crossed paths.
I'd be willing to bet if Gomi had beaten Kenny we would've seen it. Gomi might not have been as well known compared to BJ but a win over KenFlo would've been his ticket to a rematch, IMO. True, Sherk and Gomi were both older but to see two former champions in the two biggest MMA organizations still would've had a special aura around it. Kind of like Couture and Big Nog or Chuck and Wandy.At that point around 2010-2011, I would've preferred a Gomi/BJ rematch after BJ lost to Frankie.