Old School Time: Tom Erikson (the original ManBearPig)

[BisexualMMA]

Time to acknowledge Pride veteran and the spiritual father of Gabriel Gonzaga. He is not only the gene-spliced product of homo sapiens and animals of the ursine and porcine varieties, but like his spirit animal Gonzaga, also adept in MMA and submission grappling, with occasional moments of good kickboxing.

He faced off against prime Bigfoot in an all-animals MMA matchup in 2006...



He fought and...

Spoiler

defeated

...the late, great Kevin Randleman...



He threw down with Heath "Brock's Bronco" Herring...



He squared off against prime Tsuyoshi Kohsaka in submission grappling...

Spoiler

...and won.

He fought legendary rubinesque fighter and one of my favorite sacrificial lambs Jan Nortje...



And he went one-on-one in kickboxing with boxing champion Shannon Briggs...

 

[Chivas GDL]

Its all about Platinum now

 

[BreadnButter]

Prime Bigfoot full of juice.

 

[BisexualMMA]

Its all about Platinum now

I'm trying to swim against the tide and pull the water with me, bro.

 

[bambammccoy]

Bigfoot seemed so damn physical.

He is definitely not the same since getting off TrT, strength and brute power wise.

 

[Karelinator]

He was one scary wrestler.

Him striking with Briggs was some spectacular insanity, that ended pretty harmlessly for him, all in all.

 

[Glove]

Tom Erikson was so feared that certain fighters had contracts made where they wouldn't face him in a fight.

Wikipedia

"In 2010, Erikson stated in an interview that he believed that he was not invited to the Pride Grand Prix tournament because Mark Kerr forced Pride to leave him out in order to avoid fighting him. Kerr denied this claim, and replied by saying that Erikson didn't want to be in the tournament in the first place. However, according to fellow Pride veteran Gary Goodridge, both Kerr and Ricco Rodriguez had it put specifically in their contracts with the promotion that they would not fight Erikson."

 

[shinobimusashi]

Great post @BisexualMMA . Manbearpig is pretty much the perfect nickname for him. Dude was probably the best heavyweight in the sport for a short period of time, 96-97. I read in one of the Observers that he was trying to get into the UFC during that time but they didn't want him because they knew he would beat everybody and didn't think he would draw any money/interest, some say Coleman was getting him blackballed from UFC. Would have been interesting to see Erikson fight Coleman or Kerr back then.

Erikson is a good example of the fact that it's never been about rankings, ever in the sport of MMA, if it was Erikson would have had a run in the UFC in 96-97, he truly was one of the best in the world at that time.

 

[Transmorphers]

The end of his fight with Heath Herring was one of the great early Pride moments.

 

[chunglii]

Here's a great read on where Tom is now

http://www.sherdog.com/news/articles/1/Tom-Erikson-Where-Is-He-Now-75647

 

[Ez Eric]

He was so damn scary. Especially after he dominated Gary Goodridge.

Everyone was so happy when Heath came back late in the fight and finished Big Cat.

 

[TheGZA]

 

[Jermei]

I remember he walked out with Mark Colemen, Kevin Randleman and a couple other Hammerhouse dudes and it was biggest corner of all time.

 

[HHJ]

When i was a young lad i allways wanted to see more of this guy,but he rarely fought.

 

[CanCrusher77]

Dat GNP! Bigfoot is a monster!

 

[Old Timer]

Thank you sir for bringing up a good fighter from the past. A very nice read for sure. I do miss some of the violence of the olden days, the whole fight scene has changed. I really pay little attention anymore, watch the odd fight but it is far to WWF for me.

 

[chubbman]

Tom Erikson was so feared that certain fighters had contracts made where they wouldn't face him in a fight.

Wikipedia

"In 2010, Erikson stated in an interview that he believed that he was not invited to the Pride Grand Prix tournament because Mark Kerr forced Pride to leave him out in order to avoid fighting him. Kerr denied this claim, and replied by saying that Erikson didn't want to be in the tournament in the first place. However, according to fellow Pride veteran Gary Goodridge, both Kerr and Ricco Rodriguez had it put specifically in their contracts with the promotion that they would not fight Erikson."

Came to post this, for the time their Erickson was not to be fucked with

 

[Jackonfire]

@BisexualMMA thanks for another great throwback thread

 

[D'z]

He was legit. But he was no Rickson.

 

[Mr Wings]

Tom Erikson was so feared that certain fighters had contracts made where they wouldn't face him in a fight.

Wikipedia

"In 2010, Erikson stated in an interview that he believed that he was not invited to the Pride Grand Prix tournament because Mark Kerr forced Pride to leave him out in order to avoid fighting him. Kerr denied this claim, and replied by saying that Erikson didn't want to be in the tournament in the first place. However, according to fellow Pride veteran Gary Goodridge, both Kerr and Ricco Rodriguez had it put specifically in their contracts with the promotion that they would not fight Erikson."

Interesting claim. It's worth noting that Kerr is a more highly accomplished grappler, having beaten Josh Barnett (2x), Rigan Machado, and Mario Sperry. He was 11-0 in MMA going into the 2000 Grand Prix. Still, maybe it's true.