Best Mixed Martial Art

[Guest razazteca]

well what is the best MMA style and Promotion out there today?

 

Over in the Puro forum Tim Cook is pimping Sambo do you think it is superior than Gracie Ju Jitsu?

 

How would the fighters such as Coleman or Kerr who based their style on wrestling with power strikes be in a promotion outside of PRIDE or UFC? Could they take out Volk Han in a shoot fight?

 

Who are the best current fighter today, does Sakuraba and Vanderlai Silva still rule?

[Guest Army Eye]

well what is the best MMA style and Promotion out there today?

Best promotion: I prefer Pride just because they have the best fighters in the world. If Pride abandoned their pro-wrestling style booking, and combined their star power with UFC's philosophy of best fighters vs. the best competition in their weight class, then they'd REALLY have something.

 

Who are the best current fighter today, does Sakuraba and Vanderlai Silva still rule?

 

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira is generally considered the #1 fighter in the world right now. Vanderlei Silva is right up there too but hasn't been given a decent opponent in a while.

[Guest NICKO]

Best Promotion:

Up until recently I would have said Pride, they have the money to make the dream match ups happen, and the fighters on top in the respective weights, but to be honest they don't have a lot of good young stars coming through...they seem content to keep pushing Japanese pro workers into shoot maches, hoping to find the next Sakuraba...or pushing Sapp/Schilt as the next big monster.

I really like the youngsters that UFC is bringing through at the moment, and I find there cards a hell of a lot more watchable, when viewed as a whole (Pride 20 was really poor outside of the Frye fight at the top of the card). Ialso like K1, and I think you will probably see a lot of K1 fighters turning to UFC/Pride after the success of Cro-cop.

Best Style

At the moment you would have to go with BJJ at the top of the heap, followed by various grappling styles (including shooto/sambo), again I think you may see some kickboxing/striking styles come to the fore, if they can combine them with some ground work.

Best Fighter

Pick em between Vanderlei and Nogueira....Sakuraba will always be capable of an upset and will always be a big star in Japan, but to be honest I don't think he has looked the same since he fought Silva.

 

And to answer your question about how Coleman/Kerr would do against somebody like Volk Han in a shoot fight.....I think Kerr would hang with him and give him a pretty good match, but Coleman would gas early and be totally out of his depth....my opinion, anyway!

[Guest HungryJack]

y'know, it's really not fair to ask how a legitimate fighter like COleman or Kerr would fare against someone who fights woks like Han.

 

Tricked-out matwork is all well and good but it's entirely another story if your opponent is not SUPPOSED to co-operate.

[Guest Angle-plex]

Best Promotion: I'm not sure anymore. PRIDE seems to keep pushing Japanese Fighters, and a lot of matches are uneven because of it. UFC has a lot of young guys now, although if Shamrock beats Ortiz, I'm afraid that all the young fighters won't look as credible.

 

Best Style: BJJ seems to be the best style right now.

 

Best Fighter: I'm not sure. Silva is great, but thanks to PRIDE's racist booking, he hasn't had a big fight for a while. I'll say Nogueira for now.

[Guest Tim Cooke]

I wouldn't consider Sambo to be MMA. It is definetly made for worked shoots.

 

Tim

[Guest razazteca]

but in early UFC some fighters used it like Oleg Tarkolof

[Chunk 0]

I downloaded Bob Sapp vs Nogueira a while ago, but havent got round to watching it yet. Before I put it to the top of my watching pile, can someone tell me what that fight is like.

 

I dont want to watch a bad match as the first match I ever see.

 

Sorry if that shows my MMA ignorance

[Guest Angle-plex]

I haven't seen the Sapp/Nogueira match yet, but if you want to see a good fight, watch Silva/Mezger from PRIDE 10 or Shamrock/Frye from PRIDE 19. Both are really good matches.

[Chunk 0]

Do you know anywhere I can d/l them from? I dont really want to buy a whole show because I sould end up hating it.

 

ChUnK!

[Guest razazteca]

I would suggest renting a video if you can, look for Gracie, Kerr, Coleman, Fry, Sakaruba, Silva, Mir, Sierra as they usually have good matches. UFC Ultimate 95 and 96, Ultimate Japan, Ultimate Brazil are old events to look for. Pride 10 would the perfect place to get into MMA, the show as a whole is good it is called Return of the Warrior on DVD. If you want to see Vale Tudo in its pure form look for the events from Brazil.

 

UFC = USA

PRIDE = Japan

Vale Tudo = Brazil

[Guest HungryJack]

Vale Tudo events are also held in Japan , under the JVT banner.

 

Some other organizations it would benefit you to check out are RINGS , Pancrase ,Shooto , King of the cage from California, the Canadian UCC, and Superbrawl out of Hawaii.

 

It's always interesting to check out the smaller promotions as they usually feature what you could term 'the fighters of tomorow.'

[Guest razazteca]

there is also an Shooto company in USA not sure the name though its something like Hook N Shoot, its basicall and UFC minor league, I think.

[Chunk 0]

cheers guys, ill keep an eye out

[Guest Army Eye]

I downloaded Bob Sapp vs Nogueira a while ago, but havent got round to watching it yet. Before I put it to the top of my watching pile, can someone tell me what that fight is like.

 

I dont want to watch a bad match as the first match I ever see.

 

Sorry if that shows my MMA ignorance

Er.. watch it already. First of all, I can't imagine anybody not liking the Nogueira/Sapp match. It's a fascinating fight. But, it's also a pretty unorthodox MMA match. It's rare for one guy to have such an obscene strength advantage. So your opinion of the fight may or may not be indicative of whether you'd like MMA in general.

 

Try to see Pride 10, Pride 19, or one of the UFC Hits shows.

[Chunk 0]

I'll watch it today then, for sure.

 

I love days off!

[Guest RavishingRickRudo]

Can there be one particular style to be called 'the best' anymore with all the fighters cross-training? So wouldn't the real question be "what is the best combination of styles"?

 

And it differs from promotions. UFC favours wrestlers as they can just slam an opponent against the fence and punch them out - meanwhile in Pride that won't happen that often as the refs are more liberal and the ring doesn't allow for that certain positioning.

 

My favourite fighter to watch right now has to be Carlos Newton - his matches usually are entertaining. I need to see more Pride, however.

[Guest dreamer420]

Pride fighting is the only MMA that I really watch these days, but I am a mark for Chuck Liddell now.

 

I got interested in Pride after Shamrock started appearing there and I got kind of hooked. I used to be a UFC fan but after they changed their format from the one night tournaments like old I lost interest. I don't like the weight classes.