WRESTLENOW - ^ not me,
i think coleman might make it a good fight, coleman was a shredded 245lbs in his prime, but i just see the size and strength advantage being a huge aspect in rulons favor,
coleman never embraced a wider mma skill-set and relied very heavily on only two things in his career; being stronger than his opponent and being a better wrestler.
against rulon he wouldn't be either.
Kind of my thoughts as well. You have the guy with the best wrestling pedigree who is also the biggest in a tourney with a.lot of one dimensional GnP guys. Gardner definitely has limited MMA skill, but I don't see Coleman (or anyone else) taking him down and everyone would have to be careful avoiding the clinch. I can see an argument for Erikson avoiding the wrestling aspect and blasting him on his feet or the smaller, but highly skilled, Couture either sticking and moving or getting a sub during a scramble. But if your game is bull rushing and overpowering your opponent, I think you hit a brick wall when you face Gardner.
fabes -
Prime Kerr all day. 
The only guy on the list who never beat a top 10 HW can't be that easy a pick in a field of top HWs.
alexander karelin wrecks them all in one day
Lesnar would fuck shit up.
You guys are over estimating Gardner's wrestling for MMA. In the USA, if you can't make it at freestyle, then you go greco. The very best guys are in freestyle, the greco guys not so much. I hope I don't hurt aqnyone's feelings but that's just the way it is. Also, Gardner wasn't particularly an athletic heavy and being Greco allowed him to compete at the very highest levels in spite of it. No need to worry about defending legs or developing leg attacks, just hand fight and develop a partere game.
Erickson wins this going away. Remember what he did to Randleman? Thart's what he does to most guys in this tournament and the ones who push him a little more still get beat. I hate the first round match up against Brock because Lesnar could have otherwise done some damage in this tournament, but the brackets are layed out as they are. Erickson wins this tournament in impresive fashion.
^ agree about erickson, not about gardner tho, the mofo is just too big for coleman imo,
he cut to 130kg/286lbs for the olympics, coleman was basically an inflated Light heavyweight, he never wrestled higher than 220, and i think the most he weighed in mma was about 250? gardner would have 80-90lbs on him and i don't see coleman overcoming that.
Sadyv - SinCityHustler - Guys Coleman and Kerr were 190 pounders in college. Erickson was a full 287 pound athletic heavywegiht. There is zero doubt that the big cat handles either.
No, it's not certain for wrestling.
Angle was no bigger than Cole or Kerr, but he didn't cut weight, and was a national champ wrestling against the big boys.
Yes, I'd take Tom at his best over either Mark, but it wouldn't be a cakewalk.
While Angle was indeed no bigger than Cole or Kerr, Coleman was no Angle and Kerr was no Erickson. Just because on small heavy weight accomplished impressive feats against the big heavies does not mean that Coleman is beating Erickson.
Erikson doesn't have the MMA skills to hang with the more modern MMA guys. Neither does Kerr.
westleyyys - It's kind of miss leading when u say wrestler tourney and then say it's not a wrestling tourney.
It's a wrestLER tourney, not a wrestLING tourney. Reading comprehension.
SinCityHustler - You guys are over estimating Gardner's wrestling for MMA. In the USA, if you can't make it at freestyle, then you go greco. The very best guys are in freestyle, the greco guys not so much. I hope I don't hurt aqnyone's feelings but that's just the way it is.
I'm not arguing this, but Gardner was not just the US champion, he was World champ, which rather voids this argument.
GladiatorGannon - SinCityHustler - You guys are over estimating Gardner's wrestling for MMA. In the USA, if you can't make it at freestyle, then you go greco. The very best guys are in freestyle, the greco guys not so much. I hope I don't hurt aqnyone's feelings but that's just the way it is.
I'm not arguing this, but Gardner was not just the US champion, he was World champ, which rather voids this argument.
He was world adn Olympic champion in spite of not being our best athlete at the weight class. Our best guys were competing in freestyle. ghafari was in the same boat. He used to get abused in freestyle and thus switched over to greco where he promprtly won an Olympic silver medal.
If this is open weight and either freestyle or folkstyle, Erickson wins this tournament. His toughest match would be his first one with Lesnar.
CarwinKOsCain1stRound - Tom Lawlor - I think honestly, Coleman has the best credentials from a "prime" period....
but if you take the best performance that any of them have put on, it would be Couture.
and if you took a physically prime Tom Erikson, he defeats them all....
make any sense? it does to me
Didn't you fake a injury and duck knoke
Yeah, he ducked Noke, but signed a fight against Chris Weidman, one of the UFC's top prospects. Great point.
SinCityHustler - GladiatorGannon - SinCityHustler - You guys are over estimating Gardner's wrestling for MMA. In the USA, if you can't make it at freestyle, then you go greco. The very best guys are in freestyle, the greco guys not so much. I hope I don't hurt aqnyone's feelings but that's just the way it is.
I'm not arguing this, but Gardner was not just the US champion, he was World champ, which rather voids this argument.
He was world adn Olympic champion in spite of not being our best athlete at the weight class. Our best guys were competing in freestyle.
I think you're missing the point - OUR best guys may have been doing freestyle generally, but the WORLD'S best guy (Karelin) was doing Greco.
It would be like saying only second string athletes play soccer in America - true enough, but if an American were to win some amazing MVP honor on the world stage, and be the very best at his position, that would be defacto proof that he wasn't a second stringer. He went against the very best in the world and he beat them - there is no JV for that.
In MMA guys who have done Greco seems to be just as successful as guys who have done freestyle. Of course all of these guys were doing folkstyle at one point.
And as for my pick, I think the three SHWs--Erikson, Lesnar and Gardner--take the smaller guys down and pound them out. When they face each other, they end up having one of those terrible boxing matches that only two grapplers can produce. I'll take Erikson over the other two because he is the only one who has proven KO power on his feet.
GladiatorGannon - SinCityHustler - GladiatorGannon - SinCityHustler - You guys are over estimating Gardner's wrestling for MMA. In the USA, if you can't make it at freestyle, then you go greco. The very best guys are in freestyle, the greco guys not so much. I hope I don't hurt aqnyone's feelings but that's just the way it is.
I'm not arguing this, but Gardner was not just the US champion, he was World champ, which rather voids this argument.
He was world adn Olympic champion in spite of not being our best athlete at the weight class. Our best guys were competing in freestyle.
I think you're missing the point - OUR best guys may have been doing freestyle generally, but the WORLD'S best guy (Karelin) was doing Greco.
It would be like saying only second string athletes play soccer in America - true enough, but if an American were to win some amazing MVP honor on the world stage, and be the very best at his position, that would be defacto proof that he wasn't a second stringer. He went against the very best in the world and he beat them - there is no JV for that.
I thin you're arguing a point that I'm not contesting.
If this is wrestling, I think Erickson and Kerr both win. Kerr beat Couture in college even though Randy was in his late 20's. I'm surprised more people aren't picking Randleman over Severn. Randleman was a 3x Big Ten Champ and a 2x National Champ (one time runner-up) and didnt wrestle his senior year. Coleman double-legs Gardner to death IMO. I then think Erickson is too strong for Kerr, but Kerr may be able to use his speed. Kerr and Randleman's wrestling are very close so I would definitely give the edge to Erickson though. Coleman beats Randleman in wrestling. I've seen them wrestle and although they were just practicing t seemed like Mark could do what he wanted when he wanted. Coleman has the skills with the right amount of strength and speed to beat Erickson. Would be a tough match but I think Coleman takes it.
rockwell - westleyyys - It's kind of miss leading when u say wrestler tourney and then say it's not a wrestling tourney.
It's a wrestLER tourney, not a wrestLING tourney. Reading comprehension.
Sorry I don't read in detail in every title and take the time to understand what the op is vaguely hinting at in the title. And from the looks of it others have made this mistake so maybe it's not the reader but the writer.
Also hard to argue with rulon given everyone he faces a rough time. I wouldn't go with him tho because of lack of killer instinct. also hard to go for erickson with his ability to be subbed outta no where ala herring. I'd say a prime Coleman takes it all