Top 5 best retired MMA fighters?

[Scout200]

In your opinion, who are the 5 best retired MMA fighters?

 

[punisher73]

Tough question.

It seems like everytime one of these guys is "retired" they suddenly have another fight. LOL

I guess to throw out a couple of them as far as impact on the game and such in the early days I would pick.

1) Royce Gracie
2) Ken Shamrock
3) Dan Severn

 

[Scout200]

Tough question.

It seems like everytime one of these guys is "retired" they suddenly have another fight. LOL

Ha ha, very true!!

I guess to throw out a couple of them as far as impact on the game and such in the early days I would pick.

1) Royce Gracie
2) Ken Shamrock
3) Dan Severn

Nicely said!

 

[K831]

Chuck liddell
Frank Shamrock
Bas Rutten
Igor Vovchanchyn
Dan "The Beast" Severn (I'm not sure he is actually retired?)
Pat Miletich

 

[ETinCYQX]

As far as I'm concerned Royce needs to be on the list, as well as Bas and Sakuraba. Having said that:

Royce Gracie
Bas Rutten
Sakuraba
Chuck Liddell
Dan Severn

 

[punisher73]

Good call on Bas and Sakuraba. Don't know how I forgot those two.

I thought about putting Chuck Liddell on there, but it seems like every time he has announced his retirement he comes back for one more fight.

 

[ETinCYQX]

Good call on Bas and Sakuraba. Don't know how I forgot those two.

I thought about putting Chuck Liddell on there, but it seems like every time he has announced his retirement he comes back for one more fight.

I think Ol' Charles is done. He's got a desk job now with Dana. Also one of my favorite fighters ever.

Bas has always been an idol of mine, and Sakuraba is one of the "old guard" although I remember seeing him get thrashed by a younger Japanese fighter recently. I kind of went for influential fighters rather than the best fighters since IMO that's what makes a great fighter to me. As for Royce he's not the best grappler in the world but he is the guy who had the entire martial arts world going "Jiu-Jitsu? What the hell is that?"

 

[Twin Fist]

Royce is off the list forever because lets not forget, he CHEATED and still lost.....

Sakuraba cuz he beat every so called "unbeatable" Gracie

Liddel
Severn
Ruas
Hickson Gracie

 

[ETinCYQX]

I know, but MMA as we know it would not exist without Royce IMO. Every fighter on this thread owes a debt to him including Sakuraba and those that don't lost to him in 1993.

I'm no Gracie nut hugger but Royce was instrumental in creating the face of modern mixed martial arts.

Good call on Rickson too! I wanted to say Rodger but he hasn't retired yet.

 

[Scout200]

In no particular order:

Rickson Gracie- though kind of padded, he had an undefeated MMA record and was a dominant force back in the day.

Marco Ruas- he never really got a chance to shine and retired too early, but was one of the first well rounded fighters in MMA.

Bas Rutten- Pancrase champ, UFC champ, hard hitter with an unorthodox submission game.

Chuck Liddell- unquestionably one of the most high profile fighters of modern MMA, he was one of the most dominant LHW fighters in the world.

Igor Vovchanchyn- one of the hardest hitters of all MMA, his career ended when his legendary fists became too damaged for him to continue.

 

[Twin Fist]

Royce sucked ***. he dominated when his father set up fights for him with chumps that had zero skills.

notice that when they stopped using the ultra soft mats Royce started losing. When people learned an afternoons worth of escapes and counters, Royce started losing.

he never beat anyone with any skill AT ALL,

Friggin KIMO gassed him

he started losing then he started juicing. Then he still lost.

Sorry, Royce is a chump in my book

 

[ETinCYQX]

Royce sucked ***. he dominated when his father set up fights for him with chumps that had zero skills.

notice that when they stopped using the ultra soft mats Royce started losing. When people learned an afternoons worth of escapes and counters, Royce started losing.

he never beat anyone with any skill AT ALL,

Friggin KIMO gassed him

he started losing then he started juicing. Then he still lost.

Sorry, Royce is a chump in my book

If Royce had not gone, MMA would not be the same.

I dislike Royce in general too but he was instrumental in crafting modern MMA. Without his presence at UFC 1 it would still basically be a kickboxing game.

You could say that any Gracie could have done the same, and they could have, but Royce did it and that counts for something IMO.

I feel it's important to note that I'm watching Randy Couture at 47 years old pound the piss out of one of the best boxers ever on UFC Unleashed right now. :ultracool

 

[Twin Fist]

i hear you and you are right, but just like Darryl Strawberry ruined his rep forever with his demons, so did Royce IMO

 

[ETinCYQX]

Yeah for sure. I think Royce's aura was just the element of surprise really, he was just a vessel for Helio's Jiu Jitsu style.