The earliest WELL ROUNDED fighters?

[Bartinho]

What I came to say. There was a reason the Gracies kept him out of the early events.

UFC 7 is certainly considered early enough but Rickson challenged Ruas, Duarte, and everyone else in Brazil to fight vale tudo before he came to the U.S.

 

[Mr. Shickadance]

"can't really hold a candle to how well rounded the best are now"

Hmmm.. its a myth...

if the time era im thinking of is the end of bas's career and marco ruas and frank and ken, then i do not believe its a myth. why do you think so?

 

[MeGaMaNx18]

Frank shamrock and it's not even kinda close..the prototype to the modern day mma fighter..the alliance ftw! Shout-out to mo smith

 

[DaPunkMinowaMan]

if the time era im thinking of is the end of bas's career and marco ruas and frank and ken, then i do not believe its a myth. why do you think so?

Im not comparing.

just sayin´that the belief that all elite dudes are well-rounded these days is a myth.

 

[Mr. Shickadance]

Im not comparing.

just sayin´that the belief that all elite dudes are well-rounded these days is a myth.

oh i see i misread. true not all elite dudes are well rounded, as always people who are more advanced head and shoulders in a discipline than their contemporaries can use that to excel far, and I can't see that ever not being the case.
I guess my point was the best "well rounded" fighters of today are more "well rounded" than their predecessors.

 

[eworden78]

Wow Aldo as "earliest"?
Dude didn't start fighting until 2004.

 

[Chain Saw]

Aldo only has 1 sub win. Not that he has bad bjj..

So what?

He cuts through people's guards like butter in fights. He passes guard almost every time he gets a takedown.

BJJ isn't just about submissions.

 

[DaPunkMinowaMan]

oh i see i misread. true not all elite dudes are well rounded, as always people who are more advanced head and shoulders in a discipline than their contemporaries can use that to excel far, and I can't see that ever not being the case.
I guess my point was the best "well rounded" fighters of today are more "well rounded" than their predecessors.

Hmmm... depends... for instance, I would say the best "well rounded" fighters of today are defensively well-rounded: they know for sure how to defend this or that submission.

But Im pretty sure that their offensive submission game has become sub-par, since most coaches now "prohibit" risky subs like leglocks for instance.

Ground control has become the new paradigm these days.

 

[WinZip]

SakurabaView attachment 224843

came here to post this

also the Nogueira brothers

 

[Guile]

So what?

He cuts through people's guards like butter in fights. He passes guard almost every time he gets a takedown.

BJJ isn't just about submissions.

Yes I know. I roll myself. But I wouldn't say Aldo is the earliest well rounded fighter by any means.

 

[dudefacemcghee]

Approved.

And I'll also add young frank was a good looking man

 

[ColombianFist]

The King of the Streets Marco Ruas, Randy Couture, BJ Penn, FEDOR, Dan Severn, Frank Shamrock.

 

[fallable]

Someone who hasn't been mentioned, Hayato "Mach" Sakurai. Good striking, good judo, and good grappling. Watch his first career fight against Caol Uno, he already had well developed skills.

 

[Vitor CroCop]

Igor

 

[loyalyolayal]

Pancrase fighters.

 

[DaPunkMinowaMan]

Igor

his ground game got better but still was not that good.

 

[submerged88]

Maurice Smith was a striker who developed a decent enough grappling game to survive being taken down, pulling guard and getting back to his feet to continue striking. He showed this was a viable strategy when he beat Mark Coleman was being hailed as an unbeatable ground n pound machine.

 

[dc007]

UFC 7 is certainly considered early enough but Rickson challenged Ruas, Duarte, and everyone else in Brazil to fight vale tudo before he came to the U.S.

RIckson did a lot of talking but Royce was gone by the time Ruas came to the UFC and it wasn't because he didn't want to be there.

 

[DaPunkMinowaMan]

UFC 7 is certainly considered early enough but Rickson challenged Ruas, Duarte, and everyone else in Brazil to fight vale tudo before he came to the U.S.

this "challenge" btw Rickson & Ruas is controversial.

What happened btw Duarte & Rickson was BS.

 

[DaPunkMinowaMan]

What I came to say. There was a reason the Gracies kept him out of the early events.

depends.. even Marco aknowledged that they owed him nothing. They created this thing and they were from the BJJ Nation, why would they help the Luta Livre Nation?