Most unappreciated UFC Fighter from the early years???

[Lionheart7167]

Let's just keep it first 20 or so UFC's.

Two names come to mind.

The first is (obviously) Frank Shamrock. Probably the first UFC fighter who cross trained in multiple disciplines. You had fighters previously like Don Frye or Mark Coleman that had a solid base, but usually resorted to other tactics (Frye and Coleman were both wrestlers, but they usually fought stand up or ground n pound respectively)

The other, and less obvious choice is Marco Ruas. He showed the world the effectiveness of leg kicks.

There's also an argument for Oleg with his sambo.

 

[Chomsky Honk]

Jens Pulver

Edit: Didn't see first 20 UFCs my bad, Jens debuted at UFC 22

 

[Psychojoe86]

Pedro Rizzo

He used to be the guy with the leg kicks, brutal

All the leg kick “craze” these days yet rizzo is never mentioned or known by most current fans/analysts

 

[StonedLemur]

Jens Pulver

Edit: Didn't see first 20 UFCs my bad, Jens debuted at UFC 22

That dude is one of my favorite fighters, and the documentary about him broke my heart.
I completely understood where he was coming from when he said "every time I fight I just see my father"













Im not crying you are....wife must be cutting onions.

 

[StonedLemur]

Pedro Rizzo

He used to be the guy with the leg kicks, brutal

All the leg kick “craze” these days yet rizzo is never mentioned or known by most current fans/analysts

Marco Ruas was Rizzos mentor

 

[Psychojoe86]

Marco Ruas was Rizzos mentor

Sorry I misread thread title. Rizzo is not “the most underappreciated” I just thought it was a thread posting numerous underappreciated old ufc fighters

 

[StonedLemur]

Sorry I misread thread title. Rizzo is not “the most underappreciated” I just thought it was a thread posting numerous underappreciated old ufc fighters

He said keep it to the first 20 UFCs.

Rizzo is definitely underappreciated though tbf.

 

[Chomsky Honk]

That dude is one of my favorite fighters, and the documentary about him broke my heart.
I completely understood where he was coming from when he said "every time I fight I just see my father"













Im not crying you are....wife must be cutting onions.

I remember when I had this weird period in my life where I was unemployed and drinking a lot and spent an odd amount of time watching Jens Pulver on Twitch where he would watch fights with his Twitch viewers on YouTube like street fights and old PRIDE fights for hours and hours, he was so nice to everyone watching and would talk with everybody about any topic, I remember talking with Jens about old Shooto fighters like Noboru Asahi and Mishima, he would get so excited when you bring up old school dudes.

Super nice and awesome guy.

 

[Ares Black]

Jerry Bohlander

 

[Doctor Grudge]

Let's just keep it first 20 or so UFC's.

Two names come to mind.

The first is (obviously) Frank Shamrock. Probably the first UFC fighter who cross trained in multiple disciplines. You had fighters previously like Don Frye or Mark Coleman that had a solid base, but usually resorted to other tactics (Frye and Coleman were both wrestlers, but they usually fought stand up or ground n pound respectively)

The other, and less obvious choice is Marco Ruas. He showed the world the effectiveness of leg kicks.

There's also an argument for Oleg with his sambo.

Frank is probably the highest rated fighter up to that point. Don't think he's all that underappreciated compared to his peers.

 

[tymikeson]

Kimo Leopoldo

was really close to beating royce gracie but royce kept grapping kimos ponytail to survive. royce was so beat up from that fight he couldnt continue inthe tournament.

he also tkoed sakuraba

 

[Fedorgasm]

The first is (obviously) Frank Shamrock. Probably the first UFC fighter who cross trained in multiple disciplines.

I disagree. Lots of guys were training in multiple disciplines. Pat Smith said in UFC 3 or 4 that he's been working on his grappling. Tank Abbott was a trained wrestler and trained boxer.

Anyhoo, the real revolutionary thing Frank did IMO was he was the first one to train like a professional athlete. He saw how much of a role cardio was playing and he mastered it, so he could outlast dudes and never got sloppy from gassing.

 

[HHJ]

Frank is probably the highest rated fighter up to that point. Don't think he's all that underappreciated compared to his peers.

He unfortunatley is ignored completley by the UFC, so alot of newer fans dont know him

Thus

Underappreciated

 

[HHJ]

Rizzo is definitely underappreciated though tbf.

His wars with Couture were amazing, and his KO of Barnett was phenomenal.

 

[StonedLemur]

I remember when I had this weird period in my life where I was unemployed and drinking a lot and spent an odd amount of time watching Jens Pulver on Twitch where he would watch fights with his Twitch viewers on YouTube like street fights and old PRIDE fights for hours and hours, he was so nice to everyone watching and would talk with everybody about any topic, I remember talking with Jens about old Shooto fighters like Noboru Asahi and Mishima, he would get so excited when you bring up old school dudes.

Super nice and awesome guy.

Yeah he's the real deal sir, you don't find cats like him often.
He loves the old school fights, he gets a different twinkle in his eye when he talks about them or watches them...its like becomes young again in those moments.

I'll always love and respect Jens...a true national treasure.

 

[HHJ]

Marco Ruas was Rizzos mentor

RVT

 

[Doctor Grudge]

He unfortunatley is ignored completley by the UFC, so alot of newer fans dont know him

Thus

Underappreciated

To be fair, almost everyone from his era is ignored by the UFC. New fans hardly know anything about 90s MMA...even older fans really don't know much.

Pre Dana era, Dana ain't tryna push that.

 

[HHJ]

To be fair, almost everyone from his era is ignored by the UFC. New fans hardly know anything about 90s MMA...even older fans really don't know much.

Pre Dana era, Dana ain't tryna push that.

Yeah but Franks been ignored since he left in 1745

 

[StonedLemur]

His wars with Couture were amazing, and his KO of Barnett was phenomenal.

The right hand he laid on Barnett bambi feet lol... brought me and my brother to out of our seats.
Left him crumpled up like a piece of paper against the fence.

Randy and Rizzo should be a buddy cop movie lol

 

[HHJ]

Randy and Rizzo should be a buddy cop movie lol