The top fighters from the early days of the UFC

[Lionheart7167]

If you had to rank you're top 10 fighters from the early days (First 10 or so UFC events) who would they be and what order would you place them in?

Here's mine!

1. Royce Gracie- won 3 tournaments, was unbeaten in those early days
2. Mark Coleman- father of ground'n'pound. Won the HW belt, a tournament and was, for a time, considered "unbeatable"
3. Don Frye- won two UFC tournaments, only loss in those days was to Coleman
4. Ken Shamrock- beat Dan Severn, drew with Royce and was the first Superfight champion
5. Dan Severn- tournament champ, was the first person to beat on Royce (before getting subbed)
6. Tank Abbott- yea, he didn't have a long, or particularly "great" career but he was feared in those days and went to the finals twice I believe
7. Oleg Taktarov- won a tournament, introduced the world to Sambo
8, Marco Ruas- Showed the dangers of Muai Thai and won a tournament
9. Gary Goodridge- one of the most damaging fighters in the early days of the UFC
10. Guy Mezger- was one of the best "all around" fighters in those early days

 

[akc814ilv]

Not a bad list. You've got to include Severn somewhere in there though.

 

[sirmorbach]

Old School Vitor counts?

 

[ReasonableMMAFan]

Replace Abbott with Severn and you're good to go. Also, what are the early days of the UFC? When was the transition from 'old' to 'new'. I mean why leave out Belfort, Couture, Etc.. from the list?

 

[Brock Tober]

 

[Rod Farva]

Not sure how early these guys were hit some nominations are:
Gary Goodridge
Mark Kerr
Harold Howard
Murilo bustamante

 

[essie]

Pre Zuffa I would have Frank Shamrock number 1.

 

[akc814ilv]

Replace Abbott with Severn and you're good to go. Also, what are the early days of the UFC? When was the transition from 'old' to 'new'. I mean why leave out Belfort, Couture, Etc.. from the list?

I think he said the first 10 ufc's. I could be off here but I think Vitor and Randy debuted after that.

If it was just the best 10 in early mma, not just ufc I'd include plenty of other guys like Bas, Frank, Funaki, Rickson etc. I'd also rank Ken Shamrock much higher considering he beat Bas twice, beat Funaki twice, beat Severn, drew with royce but in all reality dominated their second fight, drew with oleg but again ken dominated that entire fight, and also beat kimo.

If it's just ufc though then I agree with the list for the most part, but like you said, replace tank with severn.

 

[leatherf4ce]

1. Joe Son - had balls of steel, literally

2. Don Frye - still holds up to this day. GOAT mustache
3. Vitor - was the first true explosive trained fighter at that time.
4. Oleg - Dude was tough as nails. He didn't know what 'quit' was.
5. Markus Kerr - first time I saw the can opener submission. Still am in awe of it.
6. Tank - love how he didn't care about rules or fans. He was the original Diaz bro.
7. Scott Ferrozzo - best replacement, dark horse at the time

 

[this is my new account]

OLEG Is my guy. The first Russian i was a fan of

 

[Coolidge]

Great list.

 

[mikehunt]

Not a bad list. You've got to include Severn somewhere in there though.

 

[kimo666]

Old School Vitor counts?

Vitor was after UFC 10. So was randy and Mark Kerr.. None of them competed in the 8 man tournament era

I'd say add Dan Severn and get rid of Mezger (wasn't he an alternate a couple of times?)

Think dan achieved a lot more than Guy at that stage

 

[Lionheart7167]

Not a bad list. You've got to include Severn somewhere in there though.

For some reason, Severn completely slipped my mind! He's an easy Top 5er. Changed the list to reflect that

 

[Lionheart7167]

Old School Vitor counts?

I think Vitor made his first appearance after UFC 10 (which is where I'm ending it). If you include him in the "early days" then surely he is top 10

 

[Lionheart7167]

Replace Abbott with Severn and you're good to go. Also, what are the early days of the UFC? When was the transition from 'old' to 'new'. I mean why leave out Belfort, Couture, Etc.. from the list?

Belfort and Couture were after UFC 10. If you include them in an early days discussion, they are DEFINITELY in top 10. Probably replace Mezger and Goodridge

 

[Lionheart7167]

Somehow forgot Severn. Edited the list. Who else do you think was good from the first 10 UFC's???? I'm tempted to include Varelans and Pardoe as they displayed some fight knowledge

 

[Which Doctor]

1. Joe Son - had balls of steel, literally

2. Don Frye - still holds up to this day. GOAT mustache
3. Vitor - was the first true explosive trained fighter at that time.
4. Oleg - Dude was tough as nails. He didn't know what 'quit' was.
5. Markus Kerr - first time I saw the can opener submission. Still am in awe of it.
6. Tank - love how he didn't care about rules or fans. He was the original Diaz bro.
7. Scott Ferrozzo - best replacement, dark horse at the time

 

[Ranger]

Shamrock
severn
royce
Frye
hackney
Mark kerr
tank
Harold howard
Goodridge
And Varelans for effort lol