If you're talking all time pound for pound I would have to go for Taz seeing as everyone he fought in a shoot got demolished, as well as the fact that both Royce and Shamrock refused to fight him when UFC tried to get it booked. A shoot Head and Arm Tazplex is at least ten times as scary as a worked one, and a worked one is a one way ticket to spinal fusion as is.
Trade you have to be joking right? I remember reading an interview a while back (can't remember where) where heyman said the best thing that he ever did with ecw was convincing everyone that taz was legit. That tells you something. I am not saying the guy isnt tough but...
Taz did have a somewhat limited run in shootfighting, but no one who went against him in a shoot came out of it looking anywhere near OK. I've seen 3 from Japan, in which he was announced under his real name and mauled whoever he was in the ring with. If it was worked, they managed to fool someone who does works and shoots. Shamrock and Gracie were afraid of him legit. The ECW shootfight against Paul Varlans was a work, and Paul did the job because Missy Hyatt worked her "magic" on him for a week and dumped him after the show. I remember Heyman gloating about being able to make people think it was a shoot while hyping Barely Legal on 1wrestling (which was reprinted recently), that could be what you were thinking of. I've attended two camps put on by Taz, and as far the rest of the boys were concerned Taz was a hooker. Not a shooter, a HOOKER. If Taz couldn't go, he managed to fool all of the boys and MMA promoters.
He is by no means anywhere near that level now, and I did not mean to imply so. For the early days of MMA however, considering that all of his fights were glorified squashes and the top fighters were afraid of him, I would put him up with mid 90s Shamrock and Gracie in all seriousness.
For the top fighter today, I would of course have to put my personal bias aside and go with me. Otherwise, it really depends on what someone is the best in the world at doing. Is it ability to draw? Win fights? Evade taxes? Act marketable? Do well in a specific weight class? Or multiple weight classes? Or in an openweight environment(as MMA was meant to be), back when NHB wasn't supposed to be about limits, but about no limits? This could be almost as complex as saying "who is the best wrestler of all time" as there are nearly infinite things to measure which can make someone the "best."
Well i am not saying that there aren't wrestlers who can shoot or "hook" but to be honest my opinion of shoot fighting is wierd. I am not downplaying shoot fighters from the 90's but as the game becomes more popular the competition picks up. So... but for taz, i am a fan of his and no matter your opinion of him as a shooter or wrestler, it was horrible to see him go out of wrestling the way he did. He was a lot of fun and now he is just an announcer...
To answer the question, the man has to be wanderlei but my fav has to be ortiz. The guy would make a hell of a wrestler because he has a legitimacy about him and has more charisma in his excrement ( ) than most wrestlers have at all.
Last edited by naterob2003; 2004-11-30 at 05:33 PM.
If you are asking who should be in the MMA pound for pound poll list I have a couple of names for you...
Wanderlei Silva - He's been undefeated since 2000 and he's still racking up those wins. He only has a draw inbetween the run against Crocop and he's beaten Sakuraba three times (He'll fight Saku a fourth time in Shockwave 2004 or that's the current buzz). He beat Quinton Rampage Jackson twice, in the middleweight grandprix and the title defense in High Octane. He has the Pride FC Middleweight Grandprix belt and the Pride FC Middleweight championship in his fight resume. Truly brilliant.
BJ Penn - He's been very good at lightweight and beat one of the best welterweights in the world in Matt Hughes at welterweight weight class. He's beaten Rodrigo Gracie at middleweight so it shows you he's a versatile fighter. He's simply amazing.
Randy Couture - He stopped the arguably top three light heavyweights in the UFC in Tito Ortiz, Chuck Liddell, Vitor Belfort (even if many mma fans think he's overrated). He also has a great heavyweight run prior to his light heavyweight career. Truly an amazing fighter and deserves to be on the list.
Fedor Emelianenko - The Pride FC heavyweight championk deserves an enormous credit being the only few fighters that beat Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. He has a masterful ground and pound style and has shown great versatility by stepping up in his ground game by submitting Coleman and Randleman in the heavyweight grandprix 2004. Finishing off as the finalist in the GP, it shows that even when Fedor was out of the fighting game for quite a while back at 2003, he's still the man and the champ.
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira - Truly the submission wizard of the MMA world, Minotauro is one of the finest. Being the former Pride FC heavyweight champion and having an amazing fight record, Nogueira has shown no signs of slowing down finshing off as the finalist in the heavyweight GP 2004. Nogueira has shown some slick submission moves and created a variation (the anaconda choke) of the side choke and this really points to him pushing the submission game to a different level. He beat Mirko Crocop via armbar showing that he has the skills to beat the rising (back then) unstoppable heavyweight fighter in Pride. Nog and Fedor are really above everyone else in the MMA heavyweight division and have shown true dominance in their respective division.
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) than most wrestlers have at all.
