5 Fights for Non-MMA Fans?

[sugarngold]

I get a bit tired of the bias against MMA in the general forums and main page of ESB. There seem to be many boxing fans that feel threatened by the rise of MMA to the point where all they can do is try to denigrate the sport. I find that really sad because as everyone here knows - one can be a fan of boxing and MMA without some kind of fan-centric conflict of interest.

So my question to you is:

What five fights would you pick to show to non-MMA fans?

and/or

What five Youtube MMA clips would you show to non-MMA fans?

Once we come up with a list, I think we should post the links on the Boxing Forum and try to help boxing fans appreciate MMA.

[sugarngold]

Here are a few I can think of:

Metzger/Silva - A classic kickboxing brawl in the MMA arena.
Griffin/Bonner I - Classic toe-to-toe slugfest from beginning to end that would make Arturo Gatti proud.
Noguiera/Coleman I - Noguiera's juijutsu was beautiful in this fight. He controlled Coleman from beginning to end until he sunk in that brilliant triangle choke.
Shamrock/Gracie I - Fast paced grappling match showing a smaller man in Royce keep pace with the much larger Shamrock.
Frye and that big ass Japanese wrestler whose name I can't recall at the moment. This was a classic brawl of unbelievable ferocity.

There are plenty of great matches that one could recommend. I'm curious to see what you all think.

[Beebs]

Griffin - Bonnar might not work as they would just bitch about the "bad boxing" same for Takyama and Frye...of course you could just show them nishijima vs anybody who can fog a mirror.

The others I like.

This would be a good one to show top level skill in almost all aspects.
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Maybe this to show what happens with even the best strikers if they dont have a ground game to match.
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Shogun Arona
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A nice submission Highlight
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Koscheck's Takedowns (Couldn't find one of GSP's so save the comments)
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[boxingcar]

Personally , if i had 5 fights to show to a "non mma" fan , i'd select the shortest ones. and i would also avoid the most "technical" ones (see arona vs Lister). I also would avoid the type of fights that have lots of stand up striking....(the typical boxing fan will automatically compare the striking styles and conclude that fighter A would get koed by fighter B because fighter A's striking as nothing in common with boxing...if i'm gonn a select a fight with lots of striking , i'd pick the ones that get closer to kickboxing rather than boxing most mma fighters don't look good with their hands)...

The short & spectacular fight has to be distanced from what we usually see in boxing to avoid any stupid comparisons too...

So my picks are...(i(m gonna select 10 instead of 5)

Randleman vs Emelianenko (best suplex in mma history , short & great finish)

Hansen vs Ribeiro (technical but short , with an impressive sub)

Taylor vs Sato (too short maybe , but spectacular sub )

Coleman vs Nogueira (short , and very technical sub finish)

Akiyama vs Manhoef (solid & fast muay thai fighter getting subbed)

Igor vs Filipovic ( short , accurate and extremely brutal finish via hk)

Randleman vs Filipovic (short , solid wrestling & perfect left hook)

Schilt vs Kharitonov ( short , tall striker gets brutally owned sambo style)

Sylvia vs Mir (very short , guy gets his arm broken , perfect armbar)

Sapp vs Nogueira (freak of nature with brute strength smashing bjj artist on the ground , spectacular slams , and great finish)

[sugarngold]

Griffin - Bonnar might not work as they would just bitch about the "bad boxing" same for Takyama and Frye...of course you could just show them nishijima vs anybody who can fog a mirror.



Good point about "bad boxing" Beebs. I wasn't thinking along those lines as I was just trying to come up with exciting fights that I think everyone could enjoy.

But seeing as how we are dealing with die-hard boxing fans - it is probably best to avoid any stand up fights where the technique would be found lacking.

Thanks for posting those links. I'm going to give those a look over.

Great suggestions so far.

[sugarngold]

Personally , if i had 5 fights to show to a "non mma" fan , i'd select the shortest ones. and i would also avoid the most "technical" ones (see arona vs Lister). I also would avoid the type of fights that have lots of stand up striking....(the typical boxing fan will automatically compare the striking styles and conclude that fighter A would get koed by fighter B because fighter A's striking as nothing in common with boxing...if i'm gonn a select a fight with lots of striking , i'd pick the ones that get closer to kickboxing rather than boxing most mma fighters don't look good with their hands)...

The short & spectacular fight has to be distanced from what we usually see in boxing to avoid any stupid comparisons too...

So my picks are...(i(m gonna select 10 instead of 5)

Randleman vs Emelianenko (best suplex in mma history , short & great finish)

Hansen vs Ribeiro (technical but short , with an impressive sub)

Taylor vs Sato (too short maybe , but spectacular sub )

Coleman vs Nogueira (short , and very technical sub finish)

Akiyama vs Manhoef (solid & fast muay thai fighter getting subbed)

Igor vs Filipovic ( short , accurate and extremely brutal finish via hk)

Randleman vs Filipovic (short , solid wrestling & perfect left hook)

Schilt vs Kharitonov ( short , tall striker gets brutally owned sambo style)

Sylvia vs Mir (very short , guy gets his arm broken , perfect armbar)

Sapp vs Nogueira (freak of nature with brute strength smashing bjj artist on the ground , spectacular slams , and great finish)

Thanks for the great suggestions, boxingcar. I almost put the Randleman/Fedor match in my list as well. I agree that the suplex from Randleman was one of the craziest I've ever seen. Fedor had to be part cyborg to survive that.

Nice to see some more love for that Nog/Coleman match. Juijutsu at it's best is such a joy to watch.

You've posted a few matches that I'm not familiar with. Will have to look into them.

Thanks for the suggestions.

[sugarngold]

Griffin - Bonnar might not work as they would just bitch about the "bad boxing" same for Takyama and Frye...of course you could just show them nishijima vs anybody who can fog a mirror.

The others I like.

This would be a good one to show top level skill in almost all aspects.
AgHN_yYYYzY

Maybe this to show what happens with even the best strikers if they dont have a ground game to match.
ShZgeQ2s-LE

Shogun Arona
L52TubcIDLE

A nice submission Highlight
DU62bLbBSm8

Koscheck's Takedowns (Couldn't find one of GSP's so save the comments)


Those are some great choices, beebs. The gomi/penn match is a classic. I had forgotten about the Ludwig/Penn match - but anothe rgood one. Shogun/Arona was good - but it was such a beat down. I was thinking more about fight that went back and forth a bit. That submissions video is definitely sweet. We should keep that in the running unless someone comes up with something different. The Kos video is good - but since it's just takedowns we might leave that one out.

Great suggestions, all. Thanks for posting.

[sugarngold]

Some others fights I was thinking about include:

Frank Shamrock vs John Lober. Shamrock showed a masterful blend of stand up striking with his ground fighting and slowly broke Lober into pieces.

and

Rampage Jackson vs Arona: The slam heard around the world.

[sugarngold]

Does anyone else have any suggestions?

[Beebs]

Everybody watching the Hughes - Trigg 2 fight went fucking berserk at the ened, thats an all time classic.

[sugarngold]

Everybody watching the Hughes - Trigg 2 fight went fucking berserk at the ened, thats an all time classic.

That is one that I keep meaning to mention. It's definitely a back from the edge victory. My buddies and I all thought it was over - but then it shifted. Great fight.

[sugarngold]

The first Hughes/Newton fight had an interesting finish.

SPOILERS

I don't usually think about spoilers as a problem when talking about fights unless they occurred within the past two weeks and you as a fan just haven't had a chance to see them yet. However, I have seen some mention of people complaining about fight spoilers here - hence the spoiler warning above.

That first Hughes/Newton fight was very interesting. Newton was actually competetive in that fight as opposed to the second where Hughes dominated him. The ending has always stuck in my craw a bit as Newton actually choked out Hughes - who while unconscious dropped Newton on his head - knocking him out and winning the fight. Definitely a bizarre ending.

[Beebs]

SPOILERS

I don't usually think about spoilers as a problem when talking about fights unless they occurred within the past two weeks and you as a fan just haven't had a chance to see them yet. However, I have seen some mention of people complaining about fight spoilers here - hence the spoiler warning above.

That first Hughes/Newton fight was very interesting. Newton was actually competetive in that fight as opposed to the second where Hughes dominated him. The ending has always stuck in my craw a bit as Newton actually choked out Hughes - who while unconscious dropped Newton on his head - knocking him out and winning the fight. Definitely a bizarre ending.

Thing that people forget is Newton clearly broke the rules by grabbing the top of the fence to avoid the slam, giving him time to choke Hughes, without the illegal move only Newton would have been out.

[sugarngold]

Good point. Newton was really a dumb ass for holding onto the hold after Hughes was able to get him into the air.

I'm a jiujustsu guy at heart - so you have to understand I'm biased for jiujustsu fighters.

[sugarngold]

After taking all these suggestions to heart, I've come with a top ten list of fights for your consideration.

Feel free to add or subtract from the list as you see fit. Once we can come to some kind of agreement, we can try to find some Youtube or Dailymotion clips for our final list. If we come up with several fights - but don't have the videos to support it, we'll just make a recommendation with the corresponding DVD release - be it Pride, UFC, etc.

gracie/shamrock 1
hughes/trigg 2
crocop/noguiera
shogun/arona
wanderlai silva/guy metzger
BJ Penn/Gomi
Noguiera/Coleman
Randleman/Fedor
Igor/Crocop
Bob Sapp/Noguiera

[ufoalf]

Good point. Newton was really a dumb ass for holding onto the hold after Hughes was able to get him into the air.

I'm a jiujustsu guy at heart - so you have to understand I'm biased for jiujustsu fighters.


He was doing the right thing. What he should've done is let go with his hands and hold his head when he was falling. The slam would've only gotten the triangle in deeper.

[sugarngold]

He was doing the right thing. What he should've done is let go with his hands and hold his head when he was falling. The slam would've only gotten the triangle in deeper.

I prefer to hook the leg before getting taken into the air. Getting slammed in the ring is one thing - but slammed on concrete is a whole different story.

[ufoalf]

I prefer to hook the leg before getting taken into the air. Getting slammed in the ring is one thing - but slammed on concrete is a whole different story.

Sometimes your triangle is not tight enough to go for the leg i.e. his over leg is close to the toes(basicly ur ankle is under a lot of pressure). I don't remember how his triangle was(saw the fight long time ago) but that could've been the case.

Either way that wasn't the way it should've happened technically speaking.

But w/e.

[sugarngold]

After taking all these suggestions to heart, I've come with a top ten list of fights for your consideration.

Feel free to add or subtract from the list as you see fit. Once we can come to some kind of agreement, we can try to find some Youtube or Dailymotion clips for our final list. If we come up with several fights - but don't have the videos to support it, we'll just make a recommendation with the corresponding DVD release - be it Pride, UFC, etc.

gracie/shamrock 1
hughes/trigg 2
crocop/noguiera
shogun/arona
wanderlai silva/guy metzger
BJ Penn/Gomi
Noguiera/Coleman
Randleman/Fedor
Igor/Crocop
Bob Sapp/Noguiera
Ufoalf, Relson always taught us to drop a submission attempt if someone picks you up in the air off your back. So that's the way I play it.

And back on the topic - I was thinking we should add the second Silva/Franklin fight to this list. Or was that too one-sided? I think it works because Silva's technique is impeccable.

[ufoalf]

Ufoalf, Relson always taught us to drop a submission attempt if someone picks you up in the air off your back. So that's the way I play it.

Gotcha. Perhaps its the right way to go.

[Tyson 2005]

Griffin/Bonner I - Classic toe-to-toe slugfest from beginning to end that
Yea, thats one of the first UFC fights i actually watched, it really was great

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[Wilhelm]

Sorry that I can't contribute directly to the thread, but whenever I see lots of pride clips it occurs to me that soccer kicks really change the game a lot. Seems like less ground work and more knockouts and looks a lot more like a "real" fight.

[sugarngold]

Yea, thats one of the first UFC fights i actually watched, it really was great

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Thanks for finding that clip, Tyson 2005. I was hoping someone would stick up for that fight. I know Bonner and Griffin's technique wasn't on the elite level - but the guts, grit and spirit of prize fighting was in full display. I always think of it as the Gatti/Ward of MMA.

[Tyson 2005]

Thanks for finding that clip, Tyson 2005. I was hoping someone would stick up for that fight. I know Bonner and Griffin's technique wasn't on the elite level - but the guts, grit and spirit of prize fighting was in full display. I always think of it as the Gatti/Ward of MMA.

Like I said, it was the first fight I actually watched in its entirety, and man was I hooked after that, i figured if they all fought like that It would be worth watching. Yea, Its definetly the Gatti/Ward of MMA for sure, and I get goosebumps when I watch both of those fights....

[sugarngold]

Here is a list of the finalists. Which five do you think would be A) the most exciting for a non-MMA fan (boxing fan) or B) exemplify the diversity and expertise of mixed-martial arts?

Griffin/Bonner round 1.

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Gracie/Shamrock 1.

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Penn/Gomi.

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Noguiera/Bob Sapp.

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Randleman/Fedor.

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Crocop/Vovchanchyn.

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Shogun/Arona.

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Silva/Rampage II pt 1.

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MMA Submissions video.

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manhoef vs Akiyama

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Shaolin vs "Hellboy" Hansen

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[younghypnotiq]

high light video. that would def be the best.

[Blacc Jesus]

Nishijima/Hunt
Rampage/Silva II
Fedor/Nog I
Nogueira/Cro Cop
Sudo/Ludwig

[ufoalf]

Shaolin vs "Hellboy" Hansen

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I dont think people would wanna watch that video...

[sugarngold]

I dont think people would wanna watch that video...

I didn't watch through all of the segments on that one - does it not have the fight on it, or do you think it's just a bad fight?

[ufoalf]

No fight there, just the intro... 9 minutes long...

[sugarngold]

Thanks for the head's up, Ufoalf. I've replaced that video with the proper clip. The fight starts in part two.

[sugarngold]

OK. Here's my choice for the final five. Please feel free to post your own.

Griffin/Bonner round 1.

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Noguiera/Bob Sapp.

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Randleman/Fedor.

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Crocop/Vovchanchyn.

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Silva/Rampage II pt 1.

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