Who had the best opponent for their pro debut?

Which fighter (current or past) had the most difficult opponent during their debut?

 

I'm sure there are cases where a fighter took on a future champ in their early stages that would rank ahead, but as far as already established 'best' Prado fighting Phil Davis has to be close to it.

 

Forrest Griffin/Dan Severn

 

nagata

but that was in the weak era of mma

 

nagata. prime mirko in his debut, then prime fedor..

brutal!

 

first thing I thought too

 

Others have pointed it out, but it's Yuji Nagata, by far.

http://www.sherdog.com/fighter/Yuji-Nagata-3422

Prime Fedor and Prime CC in your first and only 2 fights. It doesn't get tougher than that.

 

UFC debut or simply pro debut?

In terms of UFC debut, Joe Lauzon faced and defeated Jen Pulver, who was seen by some as the current UFC Lightweight Champion.

 

Akira Vs Dion Staring

 

Most difficult UFC debut?

Probably Brock vs. Mir, Lesnar was only 1-0 at the time.

 

Stephan Bonnar vs. Brian Ebersole (both made their pro mma debut together).
Forrest Griffin debuted against Dan Severn.

 

that

special mention to kenneth williams

http://www.sherdog.com/fighter/Kenneth-Williams-2370

0-2 with his 2 opponents being rampage and chuck liddell, neither rampage or chuck were in their prime but still worth a mention.

 

James Toney

 

frank shamrock fought bas rutten in his debut.

 

George St. Pierre faced Ivan Menjivar in his debut.

 

Mike Pyle fought Rampage (UD loss) in his debut and Fitch (RNC win) in his second fight.

 

/thread

 

A little iffy, that stoppage.

 

Both Yuji Nagata and Choi Hong-man faced Fedor and Mirko CroCop in 2 of their first 3 fights.

 

That's cool.

I just looked at that fight card and saw Miguel Torres fought and won two times that night.