Bobby Hoffman, Mikhail Ilyukhin, and other forgotten fighters

[Gogoplatypus]

Yoshida is the man. TK is the man. It irritates me when people refer to him as a can.

 

[Dick]

Ahhhh back in a world where Justin McCully was a legit a win.

 

[Dick]

Before there was Anderson Silva & Wanderlai Silva, there was Jose (Pele) Landis-Jons, who to me is one of the greatest strikers i have ever seen and whom is largely unknown.

He was coaching at my first ever BJJ competition like 10 years ago, I was pretty much star struck but no one else seemed to know who he was haha.

 

[Diet Otsuka]

I vaguely remember Hoffman crying when he was getting beaten up one time, was that against Barnett? He was good fun to watch though.

Yeah, that was vs Josh Barnett. I can't remember what he was complaining about, I want to say it was grabbing shorts or fingers in the face or something during josh's top control.

He had lost to Barnett previously in super brawl so I'm sure he already hated the guy by the time he lost again.

 

[Diet Otsuka]

Daijiro Matsui and Akira Shoji fought everyone, like seriously 50 matches combined, in pride and put up some gutsy performances against all the top names of the era.

 

[Usogui]

Erin Toughill

was a solid/beautiful woman, legit boxing career, super well rounded for that era, ..etc
she was too big and strong to find an opponent and her loss was only against 240lb russian judoka and DQ by illegal shot except the very last fight. I think she should be in talk of all time great in WMMA history but unfortunately it seems like we don't have any context to bring her back in any talk today.

 

[Nihongi]

Speaking of wmma...You all should drop some respeck on Megumi Fuji's name, the real GOAT of women's mma.

 

[Me]

One of my all-time favorites, Igor Zinoviev. Damn you, Frank Shamrock! Daaaaammmmmnnn you!

 

[leto1776]

HoFFman vs Buentello 2 was a classic. I met Buentello at UFC 53 and complimented him on that big win. He was genuinely thankful.

[YT]-tN2v3N_Fcg[/YT]

Didn't really duck him. Just forfited the match due to injury.

And there are a ton of unknown guys. Especially fighters in Japan and Eastern Europe whom reacieved little attention even in their own time.

Really intresting when you watch old events and hear the commentators talk about future mega-stars like Eugene Jackson or Jay R Palmer.

Jay R. Palmer, that got knocked ou through the ropes at Super Brawl,mJay R. Palmer?

Erin Toughill

was a solid/beautiful woman, legit boxing career, super well rounded for that era, ..etc
she was too big and strong to find an opponent and her loss was only against 240lb russian judoka and DQ by illegal shot except the very last fight. I think she should be in talk of all time great in WMMA history but unfortunately it seems like we don't have any context to bring her back in any talk today.

She was too heavy at the time.

Speaking of wmma...You all should drop some respeck on Megumi Fuji's name, the real GOAT of women's mma.

Mega Megu, women's GOAT. Don't let eh Rousey revisionists fool you!

 

[Me]

Mike Bitonio was also someone who intrigued me. He had massive heart, but probably wasn't very good. Here's him getting murdered by Bart Vale in 1995. His style was Kapu Kauilua ("Hawaiin Bone-Breaking"). No idea why he fought in a t-shirt.

 

[saugeye killah]

I always thought Tra Tellingman looked like he had pretty good boxing. Plus he was missing like half his rib cage. Pretty weird. Really interesting but obscure fighter.

 

[mma sharingan]

Frank Dux GOAT

 

[europe1]

Jay R. Palmer, that got knocked ou through the ropes at Super Brawl,mJay R. Palmer?

Yeah, this guy. One of the most gnarly KO's of early MMA.

Who was 11-0 before that, having won 2 eight-man tournaments and 2 four-man tournaments at SuperBrawl. After the KO, he seemed to lose his confidence and it showed.

 

[RDUBYA]

Pele is largely unknown? really? fuck

I'll throw in Andrei Semenov

 

[RDUBYA]

I always thought Tra Tellingman looked like he had pretty good boxing. Plus he was missing like half his rib cage. Pretty weird. Really interesting but obscure fighter.

lmao he was missing a pec and lung(?)

 

[RetiredSlave]

Lil Evil Jens Pulver.
Dan Severn? Not sure hed qualify, I
think he was the first to beat Royce.
Travis Fulton is the real pinnacle of endurance athlete. Many others. I thought Vovchanchyn was well known and respected. Theres also Kharitonov. So many more really.

 

[europe1]

I always thought Tra Tellingman looked like he had pretty good boxing

He was one of those first guy who understood jabs and distance. It's basicallh how he managed to beat Igor (along with some well-timmed takedowns)

 

[foxtail]

Hoffman KO of Reem is one of the most brutal I've seen! Just the sound of it...!

 

[foxtail]

Lil Evil Jens Pulver.
Dan Severn? Not sure hed qualify, I
think he was the first to beat Royce.
Travis Fulton is the real pinnacle of endurance athlete. Many others. I thought Vovchanchyn was well known and respected. Theres also Kharitonov. So many more really.

Royce beat Severn

 

[Ancient Warrior]

Hoffman was tough but wasn't he also a dirty fighter? Or am I mixing him up with Bobish?

A few forgotten wrestlers:

Nick Nutter- One of the elite mma wrestlers to fight outside the UFC. Had a disputed loss in his first encounter with Vovchanchyn, but then was hit with one of the top 5 hardest knees in mma history in the rematch.

Ron Waterman- One of the first few wrestlers smart enough to actually train off his back, which led to his win over Randleman.

Mark Schultz- Would anyone here remember him if it were not for Foxcatcher? Only had one fight, but as an early UFC fan I was picking myself off the floor when I saw he was replacing Beneteau.