Flame away, but Steve Jennum also beat a top 10 boxer.
Hard to make any kind of argument for Jennum. He beat a clueless boxer with possibly the sloppiest armbar ever seen in MMA, and he was totally dismal in all his next fights.
There shouldn’t be any argument made for Jennum as he was NEVER a professional fighter/athlete. He was a martial arts hobbyist that got in at the infancy of the sport in America.
Jennum vs. Hackney is still one of my all-time dream-fights.
Hell, Jennum vs. Pat Smith would have been fun as well. Steve could get revenge for Scott Morris!
"Jennum vs. Hackney is still one of my all-time dream-fights.
Hell, Jennum vs. Pat Smith would have been fun as well. Steve could get revenge for Scott Morris!"
Keith Hackney was one of my favorites of the lower tier fighters in the early UFCs. I heard that he got pretty hardcore into Pankration training and went on to become a coach, but unfortunately, other than those 4 UFC fights he had, where he went 2-2, but his 2 loses were to Royce Gracie, and Marco Ruas, who were among the top guys back then, he never fought again.
I also recall that Keith Hackney was in a movie called Superfights, or something like that. I think pro wrestler Rob Van Dam was also in it, and I believe Hershel Walker as well. This would have been back in the 1990’s.
“Ruas was 36 when he debuted in UFC 7. Marco in his Prime would have been amazing.”
Dan Severn also started at the age of 36, and he had a longer, and more successful career as a fighter than Marco Ruas, but of course everyone ages differently, and you’ve also got to factor injuries into the equation.
Erik Apple - you would have to give a specific year to get a good answer
This. SEG UFC? Pride? Early Fertitta UFC? when does Old School start and end?
Vovchachin would have murdered anyone in early UFC, hell he beat Mark Kerr.
Rickson is not in the discussion, never beat anyone of note. Igor had more fights by 21 than Rickson had in his entire career. And he fought and beat opponents of much higher caliber. Cro Cop pretty much stopped the Vovchanchin career train with his left leg though.
And his ko gif of Fransisco Bueno is still one of the best ever.
ive heard the arguement Rickson hasnt beaten anyone of note but id still put him near the top along with Ruas,Royce,Igor Then came the American wrestlers Coleman Erickson and Kerr.
I would agree with Ruas. When you say “King of MMA” I think well rounded. Ruas was the first/earliest I think of. Hume and Paulson are right there too.
theshooter - Igor had his first MMA fight in like either 1995 or 1996. That was around the same time Marco Ruas first fought in the UFC.
I do recall hearing that Ruas had some MMA fights in Brazil prior to this, so that may well predate Igor.
Ruas had a lot of hype, but he was a bit of an underachiever, whereas Igor was a big of an overachiever. Not many people expected a 5’8" pudgy guy like Igor to do as well as he did, especially considering that he mostly fought heavyweights.