There could have been a great GP 25 years ago

After the start of Shooto, Pancrase, UFC etc… things were still not all that great in terms of talent in 93,94 etc… but by the summer of 97, what we know today as MMA was really starting to get interesting.

PRIDE debuted in 97 but can you imagine if there was an organization capable of gathering all the top MMA talent together for a 16-man big money GP in the summer of 97. Go back 25 years for a second and look at the landscape in the summer of 97…

A huge GP with all the top talent like Erikson, Coleman, Shamrock, Vovchanchyn, Barreto, Rickson etc… would have been light years better than anything the sport had produced up to that point in terms of cards and events.

Rickson, Royce, Renzo, Funaki and Suzuki were all around.
Smith was 5-7 but just about to upset Coleman for the HW title in July.
Conan was 3-1.
Sperry was 6-1.
Erikson was 5-0-1 and had just KOed Randleman in Brazil.
Kerr was 3-0.
Vovchanchyn was 22-2
Barreto was 7-0.
Coleman was 6-0 and had just beat Severn to become the first UFC HW champ.
Shamrock was 23-5-2.
Frye was 11-1.
Bas was 22-4-1.
Kosaka was 9-4.
Ruas was 6-1-1
Oleg was 11-4-1
Enson was 7-2
F. Shamrock was 11-7 and just about to go on his epic run.

The summer of 97 just could have been legendary if there was the money around to bring all these guys together for a big tournament over two or three shows.

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Seriously though…most fights and most events come down to the timing being right and there could have been a truly epic GP if it was held 25 years ago.

The early UFC tournaments had already happened and so had the KOP tourny and pre-KOK RINGS tournaments that blended works and shoots but they were all nothing when compared to the tournament that could have happened in the summer of 97. Still a few years away from even when the first PRIDE GP happened.

Ricardo Morais was also 6-0-1 in June of 97 and is another fighter who could have fought in this

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In the MMA’s Greatest what if’s thread, on of my 3 choices was a billionare buying UFC in 1995.

We may have got these kinds of things if someone did.

I FOR SURE would have done it and invested in it had I had the money!

Yeah like how good could things have been if the crew that started Abu Dhabi hosted an epic tournament with these guys in the summer of 97? Too bad it seems they fell more in love with BJJ than MMA.

I’m in the middle of listening to Lyte’s Out Podcast with Pete William’s DEEPDIVE… I think you could put Pete, Tank Abbott, Semmy Schilt, and Guy Metzger on the list. It sounds like 4 man tourney’s were fairly common in the late 90’s with the UFC and SuperBrawl was doing it in Hawaii, but not with the level of talent you’ve identified.

Great call on Williams, Tank, Mezger and Schilt. All would have been possible options for inclusion in a 16 man.

It would be interesting to see how most UGers who were around back then would seed a 32 man GP featuring the active NHB/MMA fighters of 93-97 in a tournament for that summer that started on June 1st of 97 and would conclude with the finals on NYE.

I think the 21 fighters I mentioned all deserve a spot and I think the 4 fighters you mentioned deserve a spot as well. So thats 25 invites, 7 more to go, who gets them?

Going back to the summer of 97, the four you mentioned…
Williams 5-1
Tank 6-5
Schilt 4-4
Mezger 13-5

Then here are additional fighters and for sure most of these fighters would get a spot in a 32 man GP.
Kondo 12-3-1
Vitor 4-0
Telligman 3-0
Wanderlei 1-0
Bustmante 4-0-1
Schultz 1-0
Goodridge 3-5
Rizzo 4-0
Severn 14-3
Horn 7-2
Kikuta 4-1

Updated list of possible participants and records by June 1st, 1997… A 32 man would be impossible to seed, not impossible, but difficult.
Rickson 8-0
Royce 11-0-1
Renzo 5-0
Funaki 28-7
Suzuki 21-10
Smith 5-7
Conan 3-1.
Sperry 6-1.
Erikson 5-0-1
Kerr 3-0.
Vovchanchyn 22-2
Barreto was 7-0.
Coleman 6-0
Shamrock 23-5-2.
Frye was 11-1.
Bas was 22-4-1.
Kosaka was 9-4.
Ruas was 6-1-1
Oleg was 11-4-1
Enson was 7-2
F. Shamrock 11-7
Williams 5-1
Tank 6-5
Schilt 4-4
Mezger 13-5
Kondo 12-3-1
Vitor 4-0
Telligman 3-0
Wanderlei 1-0
Bustmante 4-0-1
Schultz 1-0
Goodridge 3-5
Rizzo 4-0
Severn 14-3
Horn 7-2
Kikuta 4-1
Saku 0-1
Kimo 8-2
DeLucia 20-10
Hume 4-5
Paulson 8-2
Suda 5-3
Randleman 5-1
Bobish 4-2
Beneteau 4-4
Braga 8-2
Morais 6-0
Ilyukhin 12-6
Tamura 7-2
Volk Han 10-1
Militech 15-1

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