Your favorite/important fighters?

[clubbin714]

In no particular order whatsoever:

Rickson Gracie- BJJ and Vale Tudo Legend. Unprecedented 400-0 fight record

Rocky Marciano. Only heavyweight champion to retire undefeated.

Roberto Duran. even after "No Mas". He was still one hell of a boxer.

Dan Gable. Wrestling God.

Masahiko Kimura. Judo King. There was no man before Kimura, there will be no man after Kimura.

James Figg--A master of the backsword, smallsword, singlestick, and quarterstaff, who was also history's first heavyweight boxing champion. The man had fought some 271 fights during his career, and yet he had lost only once.

Peter Aerts- helped to make K-1.

Jack Dempsey--aside from being a great fighter, Demspey tried to keep certain aspects of an older (pugilistic) boxing style alive (hence, the "vertical fist" method of punching. One of Bruce Lee's favorite boxers.

Mitsuko(sp?) Maeda- Vale Tudo Man!

Bruce Lee - I'll defend him as a martial artist. The "Tao Of Jeet Kune Do" is of major importance

Frank Gotch- the Last Great Man of Catch Wrestling.

Muhammad Ali - enough said

Peter Jackson--one of the best of the later bare-knuckle boxers.

Daniel Mendoza- Introduced modern movement into Western Boxing.

Antonio Illustrimo- Best swordfighter the Phillipines have produced in the modern era.

Vlad Tepes ("the Impaler") Dracula--by all accounts, this guy was a badass, and not just in the mass-murder sense. Allies and enemies all acknowledged his fighting and commanding abilities.

Juan de Salcedo--in the 1570's, he commanded a combined Spanish/Filipino army to defeat the wako pirates led by the Chinese corsiar Lim-Ah-Hong and his Japanese ally, Sioco. Imagine the diverse fighting styles that Salcedo must have witnessed and experienced in his lifetime...

Dan Inosanto- true hoplologist

George Silver--for doing what he could to save his native English martial arts from falling victim to the "McDojo" rapier stylists in London.

John Blinkinsopps (aka "Blinkinsopps the Bold")--When Blinkinsopps first played his Free Scholar's prize, he fought a total of eighty bouts (10 at longsword, 12 at backsword, and 18 at sword-and-buckler), though he was not admitted because of a "misdemeanor" he committed. Certainly, cardio training was not something that Blinkinsopps ignored. He became a Master in 1583.

Jigoro Kano--for saving the various JJ styles from oblivion.

Hulk Hogan - Got me into amateur wrestling

[Anonymouse]

Seeing as you and I are the only ones that are familiar with this I'll go off and say that Rickson Gracie USED to be good back in the day when people weren't hybrid fighters and it was style vs style.

Rocky Marciano I would definitely agree on.

Dan Gable was indeed a good wrestler, but if you want a Wrestling God, I would pick Alexander Karelin and he went undefeated in Greco-Roman for 10 years in the Olympics. Check him out he's got a few clips on his website of some of his throws. He literally picks up the guys off the floor who are lying on their laegs and arms and turns them around and slams them on their back. A behemoth he is.

Kimura was indeed a judoka that paved the way for many things. The kimura armlock is named after him I believe.

Peter Aerts is indeed one of the best strikers around, I would add Hoost in there, along with LeBanner along with Mirko Cro-Cop, who by the way recently defeated Bob the Beast Sapp.

Bruce Lee I would say he was the best fighter on the set, but as far as real fighting on the street or competition fighting Jeet Kun Do has never proven itself, just like all those pathetic Shaolin monks who claim they can kill someone with the touch of death and they are such great fighters they do not wish to harm anyone. Oh yea? Step on the Octagon or Pride.

As far as some fighters I like and I can't pick one over the other I would have to say ( in no particular order ), Rickson Gracie, Royce Gracie, Kazushi Sakuraba the Gracie Hunter ( I still hope he fights Rickson some day ), Don Frye, Mark Coleman, Antonio Rodrigo Noguiera, Quinton Jackson, Tank Abbot, Vanderlei Silva, Vitor Belfort, Chuck Liddell, Emelianenko Fedor, and Igor Vovchanchyn, Matt Hughes, Randy Couture, and yes even Heath Herring.

[clubbin714]

Karelin is the greatest Greco Roman wrestler of all time and actually did some amateur boxing in his time. Give him a few years of BJJ and the man would dominate NHB today.

Bruce Lee I added more for his philosophical contributions then actual fighting record. Bruce is actually quoted as saying that if you teach folk style wrestler boxing for one year he would dominate any Kung Fu or Karate man. Considering half the UFC champs today are wrestlers who work stand up Bruce is correct.

[Anonymouse]

Karelin is the greatest Greco Roman wrestler of all time and actually did some amateur boxing in his time. Give him a few years of BJJ and the man would dominate NHB today.

Bruce Lee I added more for his philosophical contributions then actual fighting record. Bruce is actually quoted as saying that if you teach folk style wrestler boxing for one year he would dominate any Kung Fu or Karate man. Considering half the UFC champs today are wrestlers who work stand up Bruce is correct.

I agree Karelin did some boxing as well and it's just too bad that he has that age on him. A while back there was rumor that Pride was trying to get him to fight there, but he made a public statement in which he stated that it was untrue and he is retired and I believe holds office in the Russian Duma.

[TVAdict710]

yea, like anon said, u guys are the only 2 who have any idea what ur talking about.