Media Which fighter made you a fan of MMA?

GSP

Man, it was crazy to learn that a guy around my age, from my area was super popular in the states for fighting. It was a little bit before he became champion for the first time.

That lead to being a huge fan of MMA for years, trying to understand everything about the sport

That also made me put a foot in a kickboxing gym to try and learn something related to the sport, afterwards I started BJJ and it became 90% of my free time and my favorite thing in the world
 
royce at ufc 3, i was only 4 at the time but watching this small guy beat kimo blew my fucking mind to the point that it was seared into my memory for years until i rediscovered the sport through tito and ken's feud leading up to ufc 40.
 
jeff7b9 said:
People remember "keep the title" era GSP.

"Get the title" era GSP was a goddamn buzzsaw.

He fucked up Frank Trigg, made Sean Sherk make noises, highlight reeled Jay Hieron.
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He had so many great fights during that time

The way he toyed with Karo and Mayhem, pretty much derailing their careers. Trigg was like the guy so near the top and he totally destroyed him

We remember the front runner GSP, the favorite. But when you listen to the commentary when you rewatch the Karo, Mayhem, Trigg and Hieron fights, GSP wasn't on the radar. Karo was too good of a grappler, Mayhem was a beast and a legend in LA, Trigg was the #1 contender, Hieron was a training partner of Baroni... Who cared about Tristar GSP back then

Even after Serra 2, the Jon Fitch fight was so crazy good, my favorite display of domination after maybe the Hieron fight

He was overthinking from the Dan Hardy fight, too much game planning

The game plan was better before

''You're gonna do whatever you wanna do at full speed''

We saw some of the old Rush against Bisping, and it was fun to watch
 
Royce Gracie vs. Ron Van Clief. . . Ron Van Clief and my father were rivals in the 1970’s. Fought a few times in different Karate tournaments in New York. I was in elementary school when we rented the early UFC’s on VHS at Blockbuster. My dad was always super triggered about the kick that Van Clief threw that got him taken down lol
 
Ken Shamrock, Dan Severn. & Tank Abbott. Not ashamed to say I discovered MMA through Pro Wrestling and the moment I got exposed I went deep into the MMA rabbit hole and never came out. Immediately became a fan of Sakuraba, Don Frye, Bob Sapp, Igor Vovchanchyn, Tito, Chuck Liddell etc.
 
jko1355 said:
I started watching with TUF 1... I had seen the old VHS tapes before that... but Anderson Silva vs Chris Leben was what changed me from a casual to an actual fan.
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Same here. I remember watching the first ufc events as a kid and they kind of ruined martial arts for me after. But then I saw Silva fight and he looked kind of like the masters you would see in movies.
 
No fighter in particular, around 2004 watching late night paid programming trying to sell UFC PPVs & DVDs. I remember them showing a lot of Chuck, Randy, Sylvia & Arlovski highlights.
 
Fedor, this video right here got me interested in MMA. I think it's because I was younger and just getting into MMA but for me, nothing will ever beat the Fedor, Anderson, and GSP mystique .
 
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Tank Abbott. My Dad got the UFC 6 PPV, and as a kid I loved Tank for, well, having the name Tank, and that he just wanted to bang, bro. My Dad didn't continue watching MMA, but it was the start of my love for it.
 
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