Most successful MMA fighters from 1990 to 2000 1. Frank Shamrock 2. Pat Miletech 3. Jeremy Horn 4. Mark Coleman 5. Royce Gracie 6. Randy Couture 7. Kazushi Sakuraba 8. Guy Mezger 9. Bas Rutten 10. Mark Kerr this is what i believe based on some research i have done as to who were the most successful MMA fighters from 1990 to 2000 (not strongest but most successful).
I'd say you have a shifting baseline, as MMA as a style evolved, the meta game changed, competition became more international and more fierce, titles came to mean more and more, so most successful is an unfair comparison.
I don't think Royce deserves to be in the top 3 that's for sure. Records don't mean anything, level of competition does.
I was going to ask why Fedor Emelianenko warn't even mentioned but I don't think most of his work falls within your time bracket... Which is why I ask, "Why bother?" Yes, your list is pretty much it. That time period was the era of Vale Tudo, Pancrease, shooto and K-1 and the exodus/morphing from/of Professional Japanese wrestling into MMA had not really gone into high gear yet. Change your parametres and you'll have some posts
Mark Kerr 13-0 , back to back UFC tournament wins, then went to Pride and won his first 3 or 4 fights there his addiction to painkillers was his downfall and stopped training and kept taking roids as for legend of the decade Rutten for sure
thanks for your imput i'll make some changes now Most successful MMA fighters of 1990 to 2000 1. Frank Shamrock 2. Pat Miletech 3. Jeremy Horn 4. Mark Coleman 5. Mark Kerr 6. Royce Gracie 7. Randy Couture 8. Bas Rutten 9. Kazushi Sakuraba 10. Guy Mezger think this is better?
^Tito Ortiz destroyed all the Lions Den members including Guy Mezger in the rematch so you should put Tito over Mezger at 10. Tito was great before the drugs , pornstars and stds
And the whole ducking Chuck thing Now I think about it though, however much he might of loved the bad guy image, Tito is arguably one of the most long-term successful fighters in mma.
Im fine with Shamrock and Militech where they are, but I think Bas Rutten should be higher. (admittedly Biased because he is my hero) but he has less fights total but more wins than Sakuraba for example. Wiki puts him at 28 wins out of 33 fights. While Sakuraba is at 26 wins out of 45 fights. He also beat Frank Shamrock twice in the 90s , once in 95 and once in 96. Also beat Ken Shamrock.
I'd have to throw Igor Vovchanchyn into the mix, he didn't have too many high profile fights, but that winning streak was impressive, particularly given some of the conditions, besides, no one won anywhere near the number of single night tournaments than him.
Alphabetically 1.Don Frye (the first american to truly mix martial arts, went 9-1 in his pre 2000 career) 2.Frank Shamrock (the first really decent championship reign in the history of the sport, and probably the first true modern mixed martial artist) 3.Igor Vovchanchyn (the undisputed king of the single elimination tournament and the scourge of the eastern bloc, still holds the longest undefeated streak in the sport (37) 4.Jose Landi-Jons (probably the best guy to justify weight classes in the sport, and the best example of muay thai in the sport at the time) 5.Kazushi Sakuraba (saku 4, gracies 0) 6.Ken Shamrock (the first tangible (non brazilian) threat to the gracies, also pretty much the face of the sport for much of the decade (even if he spent a good deal of it in the WWE) 7.Mark Coleman (the first bread and butter wrestler to enter the sport with no other qualifications and dominate) 8.Mark Kerr (who was pretty much the baddest guy in the sport until the end of the decade) 9.Randy Couture (two time ufc champion who was arguably the first person to plan opponent specific strategies, one of the first to approach the sport from an analytic standpoint) 10.Royce Gracie (the first, period)
That's a very good list you made, these people really did stand out in MMA at the time i made another list that uses the same criteria that i used last time only it ranges from 2000 to 2005 Most successful MMA fighters of 2000 to 2005 1. Matt Hughes 2. Tito Ortiz 3. Chuck Liddell 4. Fedor Emelianenko 5. Wanderlie Silva 6. Takanori Gomi 7. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueria 8. Mirko Filipovic 9. Tim Sylvia 10. Dan Henderson
Quite a good list, and as previously, i agree with most of it, as before alphabetically, my top ten: 1. Antonio Rodrigo Nougeria (Was basically the best heavyweight on the planet who's first name wasn't Fedor, and pretty much the second coming of high level jiu jitsu in the sport after years of wrestler domination.) 2. BJ Penn (Two division champion who bested the most dominant champions in two weight classes (Gomi and Hughes), down to fight a mountain lion with a toothpick.) 3. Chuck Liddell (Pretty much the UFC LHW champ in all but name for most of the era, one of the most feared fighters in the sport in his prime.) 4. Fedor Emelianenko (Now i am become death, the destroyer of worlds.) 5. Matt Hughes (Owned the welterweight division for most of the era, only bested by the dynamo that was BJ Penn.) 6. Mirko Filipovic (Although never a champion, the owner of the best highlight reel of the era, hurts my head just thinking about it.) 7. Randy Couture (Kind of Spotty record, but he was a champion three times during the period of time, and beat some of the biggest names at both HW and LHW.) 8. Takanori Gomi (The scourge of the LW division and probably the one of the best P4P japanese fighters of all time.) 9. Tito Ortiz (While he wasn't exactly game against either Couture or Liddell, he was still one of the best LHW's in the world, and owned an victory over the axe murderer himself.) 10. Wanderlei Silva (Pretty much the most violent man in the sport, laid waste to most of the LHW division in pride, usually by beating people like he was a diabetic trying to open a pinata.)
