Best 'unbeatable' fighter ever?

Underground
1

In the short history of MMA, there have been a handful of fighters that were once considered unbeatable, and some still are.

Here's a short list:

Mark Coleman -- When he entered the UFC in 1996, he finished his first six opponents, including Severn, Goodridge, and Frye. He semmed like an unstoppable wrestler for a long time until Mo Smith figured out his game and beat him.

Sakuraba -- Before taking his first loss to Silva, Sak went 12-1-1, with his only loss coming from Igor after fighting for over an hour with Royce. He seemed to have developed a style that beat BJJ and destroyed all the best fighters from Brazil.

Frank Shamrock -- Finished his career with an amazing streak of eight consecutive wins, including a TKO over Tito, a submission over Horn, and KO's over Zinoviev and Enson. Frank is often regarded as the best MMA fighter of all time.

Nogeira -- After an impressive run in Rings, Nog came to Pride and won eight consecutive fights, half of them by triangle choke, with only one fight going the distance. The wins included Herring, Schilt, Coleman, Enson and Sapp. He has come back strong after taking a hard loss to Fedor.

Fedor -- Has not lost a fight in the past four years, has 16 consecutive wins over Nog, Herring, Schilt, Coleman, Randleman, Babalu, Arona and many others. Aside from a suspect chin, it's hard to see any weaknesses in his game.

There are others, including Royce and Belfort in their early days, and Vanderlai Silva since his loss to Tito.

So who is the best unbeatable fighter ever?

I would have to say Sak. Even though he has become little more than Vanderlai's punching bag in the past few years, no one has ever matched his legacy.

2

I don't see how Silva isn't on that list. Hasn't lost in more then 4 years, ALL of them being in Pride, so he wasn't fighting bad fighters (even though some of them weren't top contenders).

3

Yeah I wouldn't agree that Fedor has a suspect chin. He is obviously basing it on the Fujita fight. Fedor took a hard ass punch from a pro fighter right behind the ear and was wobbled, that doesn't translate into a suspect chin in my books.

4

You guys are probably right, his chin is not really 'suspect' per se, I am basing it on the punch from Fujita that wobbled him, and he seemed a little rocked with Coleman was punching him from behind.

I just said it because it seems like his only known weakness.

And Silva should definately be on the list, since he came to pride, he's had 17 bouts, zero losses, and 13 KO/TKOs. He fought his share of cans in that time, but he also defeated Guy Mezger, Dan Henderson, Quinton Jackson (twice) and ended Sak.'s reign but owning him three times, with another one coming on New Years.

5

Fedor lost to Arona.

6

No, he beat Arona. Check his record, although many felt it was a bad decision.

7

If I had to bet my entire lifes earnings on someone it would be Fedor. BUT if I had to bet my life on someone, it would be Nogueira.

think about that

8

Matt Hughes.

9

Mark Kerr.

10

Don't forget Igor Vovchancin.  For a while there everyone thought he'd never lose... How many 8 man tournaments did he win?

Elvis

11

That's true, Igor once went on a 29 win streak and before losing to Coleman in the GP finals, followed by a four win comeback, and he beat the shit out of Kerr twice.

12

Tom Erickson has to be up there.If he trained full time for MMA and there was still a no standup rule then he might never had been beaten.

13

Erickson was never considered unbeatable.

14

Coleman finishing all opponents back then doesnt mean what it does now. There was no decisions so if you won you finished. But he was def a beast at the time.

15

The entire Gracie family had a mystique about them in the early days of NHB fighting in this country.

16

True, Royce was definately considered unbeatable in the early UFC days, and Rickson might still be.

17

IMO Matt Hughes had one of the most quality streaks, in not thee best, ever. At the time that he was champ, he faced absolutely the best out there.

A 13 fight win streak - from Mar 01 to Jan 04 -including 5 top level defenses as champ:

Newton (first to finish)

Mach (first to finish)

Castillo (a bit of a blemish because it had a controversial ending but still...)

Sherk (first to beat)

Trigg (first to tap when JJ and Renzo did not).

Frank Shamrock also had one of the best quality streaks.

18

Glock 17......Never lost a fight! No one can beat him.

19

Igor Vovchancin and Matt Hughes.

20

"He seemed to have developed a style that beat BJJ and destroyed all the best fighters from Brazil."

My prediction is one day Silva will figure out a way to successfully stop Sakuraba...LOL.

Rickson undefeated

Henderson is a strong canidate and what about Terrell.