How would Vitor Belfort have done against Igor Vovchanchyn?

[KAZSoliloquy]

I'm taking Igor in 1998, he was more well rounded had arguably faster hands

crying laughing at both of those takes lmao

 

[don't ask]

except a shitload of other fighters did, and didn't retire at 32. dan severn, ken shamrock, bas rutten, pele, patrick smith. hell, jorge patino had dozens of fights in bare knuckle vale tudo and is still fighting today. add them to probably 30-something others.

I said people who did what Igor did (try to murder people with baeknuckle bombs) and you named someone who never learned how to strike and two people who fought bareknuckle in organizations you couldn't punch with a closed fist. Gee, I wonder why they didn't retire with shattered hands. Meanwhile, Ken actually had to withdraw from several UFC events because his hands kept breaking the first time he had to punch with them.

I'm tapping out of this conversation because I don't think you're actually trying to have an honest discussion. Ciao.

 

[StonedLemur]

Let's say circa 1998, so this is "no known weaknesses" era Vitor.

Certainly this would be one of the most violent fights that never was.

Id say Igor wins this one tbh.
Even though Igor is a little slower, he's accurate and his power would be the difference maker.
Igor also has powerful kicks even if he didn't use them all the time.

 

[StonedLemur]

I said people who did what Igor did (try to murder people with baeknuckle bombs) and you named someone who never learned how to strike and two people who fought bareknuckle in organizations you couldn't punch with a closed fist. Gee, I wonder why they didn't retire with shattered hands. Meanwhile, Ken actually had to withdraw from several UFC events because his hands kept breaking the first time he had to punch with them.

I'm tapping out of this conversation because I don't think you're actually trying to have an honest discussion. Ciao.

You're sexy when you're angry lol

 

[achoo42]

Igor by KO. Vitor wasn’t roided enough yet

I'm not sure he could have been more roided than this at the age of 20.

Yeah, but I thought we decided MMAth wasn't going to be used here. He blitzed Telligman, who explained in the post-fight interview he wasn't expecting a Brazilian to throw punches, and the Igor of a decade later had been training to fight Ken, not Tre. We don't know how Telligman would do if he survived the blitz because, again, Vitor didn't outstrike top strikers until later.

If Igor wasn't expecting a Brazilian to throw punches, wouldn't that be a huge advantage for Vitor when he blitzes? Especially since back then, Vitor was still being announced and marketed as a jiu-jitsu fighter.

 

[Vil7]

Skills aside Igor was tougher & had more heart. His chin was good too I can't recall him getting rocked or KO'd except against Cro Cop's kick which knocks everyone out. I'd pick Igor for sure over Vitor.

 

[Pancake Sprawl]

except igor wasn't a top striker. he was a highly ranked fighter with striking as his base but so was tank abbott. igor was a brawler, through and through.

then it's not a fantasy matchup lol if you're making up a less than ideal version of young vitor (which could or could not be the case, the best version should be the assumption) then what's the point? young vitor had the strength and the grappling chops to knee igor into oblivion like coleman did.

in addition, igor absolutely shit the bed in multiple fights. lost to coleman, lost to cro cop, lost to rampage, lost to telligman, lost to sperry. he was favored in all of those except maybe cro cop. hell, he was favored against overeem and lost that too. you're making up a mythical fighter that never existed. vitor is proven.

LOL Tank was never highly ranked. Igor was literally considered THE TOP HW IN THE WORLD at one point. Tank Abbott, never.

losing to Coleman is not shitting the bed, Coleman was literally handed the GP win on a silver platter. Vovchanchyn had already fought for over 25 mins by the time he got to Coleman. he also had to fight Goodridge and Sakuraba. Coleman fought fuckin Akira Shoji and then got a free win vs Fujita. losing to Prime Mirko and Rampage is shitting the bed? he was already well past it when he fought those guys. hell, he was already getting past it when he fought Telligman.

you say it's not a fantasy match up if you don't take them in their prime, but he was not in his prime when he fought Telligman. how can you be at your best when training for a totally different fighter? AND Igor really fell off after that fight going like 10-6. Vitor did not have the grappling to hold Igor down and knee him like Coleman did. hell, not even Mark Kerr could do that and he was an ACTUAL wrestler who is way bigger and stronger than Vitor was.

what's mythical about Igor? because he was so good you can't fathom that he could beat up a glass cannon with no gas tank? if anyone was proven in 1998 it was 30-2 Igor Vovchanchyn not 6-1 Vitor.

 

[markantony20]

How do you fight someone with no known weaknesses?

 

[markantony20]

As well as BJ Penn would have done against Islam Makhachev.

How could Islam hope to take this guy down?

 

[Ludwig von Mises]

It would have been really interesting. Vitor was a lot faster than Igor and I personally think he was the better grappler. Not by a lot but by enough to where it could be a factor. With that said Igor had insanely heavy hands and tremendous killer instinct. One wrong move and Vitor could have been ktfo easily. Would have been an absolute banger of a fight.

 

[markantony20]

1997 Vitor
View attachment 1046879

Idk why everyone always brings up 2012-2013 era vitor as his most jacked when him in the late 90’s looked like an escaped experiment made by German scientists in Antarctica.

 

[mkt]

Sorry, I wasn't trying to imply he was. I'm mixed up by who I'm responding to, I was trying to push back on the idea we had evidence young Vitor could beat top strikers in actual exchanges and not an immediate blitz.

And again, no one has answered my question: who is the best striker that Igor beat either by finishing or clearly outstriking and winning a decision?

 

[achoo42]

. What did Igor weigh ?

Igor ranged from 205-230. Vitor ranged from 205-226. So there's not a significant difference in size here.

 

[Trabaho]

How could Islam hope to take this guy down?

How did Matt do it ? By being strong

 

[mkt]

Igor ranged from 205-230. Vitor ranged from 205-226 back then. So there's not a significant difference in size.

And the 230-ish pound Igor had a bit of fat on him. Vitor was a ripped (and yes roided, which was legal back then) 225 pounds.

 

[StrikerKing]

Way back around 2000 I really really wanted to see this fight and/or Wand vs Igor.

 

[jeff7b9]

Let's say circa 1998

1998 Igor was in the middle of one of the longest mma winning streaks ever.

I'm going Ice Cold by stoppage, probably KO/tko.

 

[mkt]

Vitor was exposed in the wrestling and fence-fighting aspects. A guy like Igor plays right into his hands. Vitor's straight punches are gonna cut through Igor's slower hooks. Just like Wanderlei.

Yep. Styles make fights. I think Igor matched up against some fighters (like Kerr and Coleman) better than Vitor would. And Vitor beat Tra and lost to Sakuraba while Igor had the opposite outcomes with the same guys. But in 1997-8, I think Vitor's speed and "punches in bunches" blitzing would be too much for Igor, who was used to fighting much slower and less skilled nobodies in Russia.

Speaking of Coleman, it's worth noting that Mo Smith, a 220-pound kickboxer who was 15 years older than Vitor at the time (and who's ground game was nothing but the "TK guard") managed to beat him while Igor didn't a few years later. So who knows. Vitor was doing BJJ tournaments as a teen when the UFC started in 1993. It's possible he could've survived with Coleman on the ground and possibly gotten a submission down there or KO if he got back to his feet.

 

[Dionysian]

#1 HW on the planet vs a guy who was very green at 20 years old and was 2-2 in the timeframe fantasized about.

Only contest Vitor wins under that scenario is winning Sherdog memes. Hilarious how many people in this thread are picking him by the way.

 

[BoomStronk]

Who was the best striker Igor beat, though? Gary Goodridge? He beat Gilbert Yvel, but that was by RNC. Igor took him down very early in the fight when it looked like striking with Yvel might not go well.

Honest question. Even back in the 90s, I wanted to see Igor fight Bas Rutten. Pedro Rizzo, Mo Smith or Marco Ruas would also be interesting. All of those guys had good leg kicks and a pretty big reach/height advantage. Obviously Igor might be very dangerous if he got inside, but we never saw him fight anyone like that in his prime.

I'll ask again...who's the best striker Igor stood toe-to-toe with and either finished or beat in a clear decision? Honest question.

There aren't many standout names on his resume, that's for sure. This is kind of the story from that far back in MMA history, though. I'm not sure there are any fighters from that era with resumes full of standout strikers. Igor fought a lot, and fought a variety of opponents. I acknowledge that he wasn't specifically experienced in taking out strikers, but I maintain that doesn't so much matter - he'd have still been way too big and well rounded for Belfort, who himself didn't have an eye-popping resume at the time of this hypothetical fight.