Who contributed the most to the UFC?

Cooliox

Cooliox

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Royce Gracie?
-> The Original UFC kingpin

Ken Shamrock?
-> The original TV Bad Guy- Fought Royce, Tito... Brought over media attention by crossingover to the WWF, and back...

Tito Ortiz?
->Represented the UFC before the Zuffa days. Carried the LHW division on his back and held the title defense record which was just broken by Jones.

Randy Couture?
-> The original fan favorite- dubbed 'Captain America'. Ageless wonder. 5 times UFC champion in multiple divisions.

Chuck Liddell?
-> The Iceman put more humans to sleep than a daycare center. He dominated the LHW division and brought fame to the mainstream for Zuffa at a critical time.

Matt Hughes?
-> Fought Everybody Everywhere. Represented the lighter weights at a LHW/HW dominated era. An amazing 45 career wins with 35 finishes. Launched the careers of both GSP and BJ Penn, both whom he has beaten in his career. Most wins in UFC history (18).

Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar?
-> You know how the story goes, The 2 TUF Finalists fought on Spike which launched the UFC to superstardom. Dana calls it the most important fight in UFC history.

Georges St Pierre
-> Canadian Karate master who became the best MMA wrestler. Holds multiple UFC records, and has beaten a long list of greats, and continues to add to the lit. Beat BJ Penn in champion VS champion fight. Current WW champion, Most wins in UFC history (tied with Matt Hughes at 18).
GSP represents the sport through media PR work, great ambassador to the sport. He claims the UFC makes the most money when he fights.

Anderson Silva
-> Considered the GOAT by many. Unparalleled reign of supreme dominance. Viciously KOd fighters over 2 divisions and holds almost all the records in the UFC. Just only recently lost a step at 36 years of age, will fight for title in December.
First guy to bring in Major sponsorship to the UFC, for a fighter. Continues to be the one of the most discussed fighters.

Brock Lesnar
-> Short UFC career as a result of diverticulitis, twice! Still, brought over a lot of crossover fans with him and was top UFC mainevent ppv seller of all time. Sold over a million buys in back to back to back HW title fights. Launched a new era of UFC fans despite short career.

Jon Jones
-> Current P4P King. True prodigy of the sport of MMA. Youngest UFC champion ever. Currently dominating a stacked LHW division like no one has ever, at 26 years of age.
Responsible for bringing in Nike as sponsor, and now Gatorade.
Receives mainstream sports coverage by almost every major sports news network. Holds UFC LHW title defense record.


So, who's your pick?
 
Shamrock was the reason why I started following MMA, so there's your answer.
 
Gotta go with Tito/Chuck. A lot of the guys you listed only had success because guys like Tito and Chuck made it possible for there to be superstars in the UFC and MMA

Others might have had more success, but none helped the UFC in the way they did
 
Tito. Dana was Tito's manager in the UFC and if he wasn't he would never had went to the Ferritta brothers to buy the promotion. If SEG had continued to run things the UFC would never have gotten sanctioning in Nevada or most other states and would have folded in a year or two. Tito's also done the sport some damage that almost destroyed it like his boring fight at UFC 33 which was Zuffa's first PPV but without Tito the UFC wouldn't have happened. Sure without Chuck it might not have become main stream but Tito started it all.
 
I seriously stated watching mma because of Tito. He gets a lot of shit now and most of it Is deserved but he was carrying the ufc through the dark ages. Say what you want about him now but he was a big part of the sport in the beginning.
 
Without a doubt, Chuck.

It was the perfect storm of the UFC just breaking into mainstream and there being a big buzz around them. Combined with Chuck's killer aggressive fighting style/all those ko's, his laid back attitude and image....it was perfect timing and he was the perfect guy to become the first real superstar. My grandmother knew who Chuck Liddell was.
 
respectall said:
Dana white
Click to expand...

That is what he claims, but how about this from Roy Nelson:

"I'm a game changer. There's the casual UFC fan and then after they watch Roy Nelson, they become an MMA fan."

"I want to be part of the Roy Nelson business and it's more like: Does the UFC want to be part of the Roy Nelson business?"

Source: http://youtu.be/b2QW6F6sl-0
 
It was Randy Couture, the dude was there from the bad times to the good times and help grow the sport.
 
Royce Gracie and Ken Shamrock put it on the map.

Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell took it to the next level.

The other guys all played huge roles, but those four should be the UFCs mount rushmore IMHO.

EDIT: I'd add Couture in there with Ortiz and Liddell too. He was a pretty big star. His "Captain America" persona, professional attitude, and wrestling credentials went a long way to help legitimize the "sport" side of MMA.
 
Ruv said:
It was Randy Couture, the dude was there from the bad times to the good times and help grow the sport.
Click to expand...

I'm 50/50 on randy. He was there in the beginning and a lot of people liked him but in the early days when not a lot of people knew anything about the sport he made it look like some old man could just come in and whoop some ass like anyone could do it. Obviously that's not the case but you get my point.
 
BennyRUCKIS said:
BJ Penn
Click to expand...

I know I left BJ Penn off the list. I did give him a shoutout in the Hughes and GSP categories though :p

Should I add BJ to the list? I personally agree that he really made the LW division what it is today. Before BJ went to capture the LW title, no one really cared about LWs.

After Frankie beat him (probably the best thing that has ever happened to the LW division), 155 is now STACKED with major talent in all corners. Like anyone in the top 10 could be champion on any given day. And BJ brought the recognition to this division.

But did he contribute enough to the UFC as a whole? He ditched em after beating Hughes, came back and fought GSP in that battle of champions and embarrassed the UFC for a little while when Mama Penn and him went all apeshit by trying to take GSP to court and all that.

What do you guys think, should I add BJ Penn to the list?
 
-Dana White convincing his friends who are billionaire brothers to buy the UFC for $2M
-The Fertittas sticking with the UFC even as it gouged money for many years
-The early breed of Zuffa era superstars like Tito, Chuck, Hughes, Randy, etc. who helped grow the sport
-The newer breed of superstars who pushed the pay-per-view sales through the roof like GSP, Anderson, Brock, Penn, Rampage, Forrest, Rashad, Franklin, etc.
-Crossover stars like Jon Jones who get blue chip sponsors like Nike, Gatorade, etc. and help bring the sport more into the mainstream...
 
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