He was supposed to fight at UFC 11. But he couldn’t secure a visa to come to the US so he was left out. He was one of the earliest sprawl and brawl guys who had high level striking and good enough grappling to survive on the ground. A few years later he knocked the shit out of Mark Kerr, who natural talent wise I think was better than Coleman. Had he fought at UFC 11 it is likely he would have met Tank or Coleman, or possibly both. It might have changed the course of the UFC and MMA in general which was dominated by grappling mostly up until the mid aughts.
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Would’ve been awesome to have him there then. He would’ve been right at the top. I could see Randy and Rizzo giving him his toughest fights
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Igor would have obliterated Tank. Had he been around then, his knockouts would be appearing on highlight reels to this day.
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It would have been a fun fight. Igor could have done that but Tank was unpredictable, one clean shot could take anyone off their feet. I would have rather seen that than the fight with Scott Ferrozzo. Igor was far more technical and likely would have picked Tank apart. Him versus Coleman would have been a great fight.
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Igor would’ve been amazing in the UFC. He was great in either the ring or the cage.
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That would have been fun.
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Dammit…for later
I’d love to see Igor against Tank, Belfort, Frye, Ruas, Mo, Bas, and even Frank of that era. I think he’d beat Coleman too, being fresh.
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Could you elaborate on this?
Are you talking potential?
Or eluding to Kerr mixing it up in ADCC?
Pretty sure it was Tom Erickson who said that (paraphrasing) Kerr fought to get paid and Coleman fought to fight.
Something like that.
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Igor would have been a blast in the UFC!
I don’t have time to get into matchups right now.
But I think it’s safe to say he would have been very successful and a dangerous fight for anyone.
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Did not know this.
Would have been AWESOME.
Him vs. Tank would have been classic.
Physical skills alone Kerr was better than anyone. Hands down. Especially on the gear he was amazing. But he had awful anxiety and sometimes was worried about hurting people. If Kerr had the right mental edge he would have a lot fewer losses. Coleman and the Big Cat were just flat out mean scary guys who could wrestle and were fighters. Give Kerr the mentality those 2 had and nobody is going to stay with him in that era. Not to say those 2 didn’t have talent or anything but Kerr was a very gifted athlete and could have ruled the MMA world for years. I am 100% convinced if he had his head on straight he could have made Bas look like a rag doll.
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Here are all of the fighters from that show.
- Brian Johnston vs. Mark Coleman
- Fabio Gurgel vs. Jerry Bohlander
- Sam Adkins vs. David Abbott
- Brian Johnston vs. Reza Nasri
- Mark Coleman vs. Julian Sanchez
- Roberto Traven vs. Dave Berry
- Sam Fulton vs. Scott Ferrozzo
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Igor in 1996.
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Igor vs Coleman would have been amazing. I think Igor wins late
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Interesting take.
There was definitely a time when I thought Kerr was going to be the next big thing.
While it is clearly safe to say Kerr did not live up to his full potential – I’m not sure I agree with your take on the ultimate extent of that potential.
I also think you could say similar things about many fighters, especially from that era.
Imagine if Ken Shamrock had been sober. Or Randleman with a higher fight IQ.
There are a lot of cases of what could have been in MMA – and Kerr is certainly on that list. I just wouldn’t necessarily say he is foremost on that list.
Too bad we’ll never know…kind of like Igor in the UFC.
Mark had every skill you could ask for and was one of the first wrestlers to really cross train. Physically he had the talent but just didn’t have the right mental game to succeed. A focused and hard edged Mark Kerr would have run through anybody back then. But he had such awful anxiety and was afraid of really hurting somebody. Plus there wasn’t the kind of money there is now. MMA was a niche sport back then with very few true committed professionals. Almost everyone had a side gig besides just fighting.