Igor Vovchanchyn Owns 'Mr. Strong Guy' GP (vids)

Underground
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Coming off a weekend where an MMA event aired live on network TV to millions of homes, it's worth remembering that it wasn't so long ago that the sport was still in its dark ages. Perhaps nothing illuminates that more effectively than videos of Igor Vovchanchyn's victories in the one-night "Mr. Strong Guy*" tournament in Minsk, Belarus back in January of 1996. "Ice Cold" fought three times that night, once against a guy who appears to be wearing street shoes, and all three times in a pit covered by a wrinkled tarp. The footage is in black and white and we can only assume that it's because color TV hadn't made it to Belarus yet, or else it had and they simply thought it frivolous. And the music? Well, obviously it's nothing less than an inspired, though somewhat risky choice for a bare-knuckle fighting tournament...

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We post these not to suggest that any MMA that comes out looking better than this is beyond reproach, but rather to remind ourselves that complaining about watching the world's best heavyweight for free on CBS, even if it did thwart the DVR technology that didn't even exist in 1996, is a very recent luxury for MMA fans. That's all. Well, that and the fact that this whole tournament seems pretty damn fascinating in a weird way. There's really no way for you to not watch them and still call yourself a fan.

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* Some people say the name of the tournament actually translates to "Mr. Powerman SEKAI," but that's more confusing and not quite as funny as "Mr. Strong Guy," and is therefore the inferior translation in our eyes.

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 Those were rad.  Thanks for posting them.

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if you like these videos, you'll probably also like the IAFC 32 man tournament- compilation video here:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1212428348931481180#

the full length tape should still be available from bas boon's shop (that's where i got my copy anyway), whenever he fixes the online shop:

https://www.nikko-sportsvideo.com/index.htm

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hadn't seen those before, thanks for posting!

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TTTeh

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The crowd was obviously clueless. There were several times where Igor and his opponents were feeling each other out, trying to find their range, and the audience didn't even boo. What a bunch of uneducated retards.

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Thanks for the vids, by the way.

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Awesome videos. I wish I could vote you up.

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Really cool stuff. Probably the hardest hitter this sport has ever seen.

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 Thank you CagePotato! Great post!

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great vids

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Fedor is enjoying his status as IGOR 2.0

Igor is the reason I really started training hard back in the day, he was my motivation for fighting and to this day inspires me.

An unbeaten streak of 32 fights back when you'd be fighting 3 or 4 guys in a night, no gloves, guys you'd never seen tape on, of all weights and sizes.

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pe0 - Fedor is enjoying his status as IGOR 2.0



Igor is the reason I really started training hard back in the day, he was my motivation for fighting and to this day inspires me.



An unbeaten streak of 32 fights back when you'd be fighting 3 or 4 guys in a night, no gloves, guys you'd never seen tape on, of all weights and sizes.


 Voted up. He was my motivation (amongst others) as well when I was a kid.

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 Where is the guy with the steel toe boots?

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maxmain - 
PeteVR - if you like these videos, you'll probably also like the IAFC 32 man tournament- compilation video here:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1212428348931481180#

the full length tape should still be available from bas boon's shop (that's where i got my copy anyway), whenever he fixes the online shop:

https://www.nikko-sportsvideo.com/index.htm

 

That's one of my favorite MMA vids ever. Fuckin' Morais, what a boogeyman.

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Igor was a very low key guy as well.

Though he did have the great Pride GP quote...

"I want to be the richest fighter in the world. And the most famous."