which fighter or fight made you fall in love with mma

[Takes Two To Tango]

I have no shame in saying I saw mma here and there from the start but nobody suckered me in like Kimbo. Watching Kimbo street fights made me watch more Strikeforce free fights and when they signed Kimbo it was everything for me… until he sucked but by then I was already hooked. MMA owes Kimbo MILLIONS. There has been no human on earth that brought non mma fans to mma better than Kimbo

There is no shame on that my friend. Kimbo was quite a phenomenon at that time. I can see so many people being captivated by him.

 

[TheMadHatter]

I had seen the sport before, going back to the TUF 1 days, but really got hooked when Chuck finally fought wanderlei. Another big fight for me was Serra vs GSP. I had rooted for Serra on that season of tuf and didn’t understand why “he didn’t have a chance” in his title fight against GSP. In hindsight it would have been much cooler knowing the extent of the upset at the time.

 

[AmericanMMA]

Fight was Bang Ludwig vs Genki Sudo
Fighter was Chuck Liddell

 

[Tito Tapped]

I was doing already doing martial arts as a kid when the UFC came about. One of the coaches was also training Ken and Frank Shamrock and taking Guy Mezger over to Japan so I was solidly in that camp from the early years. Royce was never my friend even for UFC 1.

I'll say this though, the fighter who really solidified my love and passion for the sport of MMA was Randy Couture. If I'm hooked for life it's because of him. The early Vitor fights, the Liddell feud, the comeback, all of it.

 

[J-Pac]

Rich Franklin for me. Guy was something else.

 

[Ozze]

Pride roided-stomping-on-japanese-man Wand.

His staredown alone was reason to tune in.

 

[BigOlJeet]

UFC 1 tryouts, thus UFC 0.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

 

[DMan]

Tank Abbot vs Jon Matua. My grandpa rented the VHS tape of UFC 6. Abbot knocking out a 400 lb. dude is forever cemented in my head and started my love of MMA

 

[Paul E Gensinger]

none it was always about the fighting itself

Renting the early UFC vhs tapes. The whole idea of a karate guy vs a judo or sumo guy. Guys were getting flattened. A lot of one sided beat downs.
I guess Dan Severn at first.
Then Tank Abott.

 

[blewgums]

Wanderlei Silva destroying Sakuraba made me laugh out loud.

Then I found out he’d done it twice more.

That’s when I found out I liked mix martial arts. Been a fan ever since.

 

[BJJ4Tone]

 

[haj02]

When Frank Dux showed the world that Tanaka Ninjitsu was the greatest of all martial arts.

 

[jsbx45]

Fedor. Mario Sperry, Chuck

 

[jmag]

UFC 1 fight 1, and I don't remember who fought.

 

[Cameron]

Shogun vs lil nog critical countdown ‘05

 

[TheNinja]

Initially Marco Ruas


Then got back into it with Rich, Chuck, and Hughes.

Finally fell in love again withFedor, Shogun, and Big Nog

 

[Westbrick]

got into MMA watching Kickboxing, probably Cro Cop.

 

[Leinster Rugby]

This man was my first mma man crush.

 

[Fight Professor]

I got very curious about MMA after watching Fedor vs Nog 1 per friend’s recommendation. The first really long round, lots of damage without a stoppage, wild striking by a bit out of shape guy… all of that got me into MMA. PRIDE tournaments in general made me love MMA.

Then prime Conor gave me a lot of inspiration of how to get the most out of your opportunities. Too bad he was never the same after the May payout.