RealGM

It's that time of year again, where we once again vote to enshrined the newest members into the RealGM MMA Hall of Fame. This year (and all years going forward), we will inducted two of the ten nominees. The rules are the same as last year. It doesn't necessarily have to be a fighter, but they do need to be retired (or as close an anyone in MMA can be to retired) from whatever it is that merits their inclusion. So fighters can't still be fighting, announcers can't still be announcing...

Like last year, I went ahead and did this about a month earlier than all the other yearly awards, in an attempt to cast as wide a net as possible.


2016 Inaugural Class: Randy Couture, Royce Gracie, Matt Hughes, Chuck Liddell
2017 Class: Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Kazushi Sakuraba

The two new nominees this year are Urijah Faber and Michael Bisping.

The other two to vote had the exact same picks: Lorenzo and Hendo. Seems clear cut.

Vovchechnyan, Cro Cop, Gomi, Tank...as candidates.

cowboyronnie wrote:Vovchechnyan, Cro Cop, Gomi, Tank...as candidates.

The other three are great but I assume you're trolling with Tank. Seems like there would be many more deserving pioneers.

REDDzone wrote:

cowboyronnie wrote:Vovchechnyan, Cro Cop, Gomi, Tank...as candidates.

The other three are great but I assume you're trolling with Tank. Seems like there would be many more deserving pioneers.

Yeah, Tank and Ken Shamrock are the most overrated fighters in MMA history.

Also, Cro Cop is still not retired. He's been fighting in Rizin.

^^ I'd agree but I don't think anyone ranks Tank highly. I haven't heard his name in years. Tank was never good in any era. He never even won a ufc tournament. I'd think Marco Ruas or Oleg Taktarov would be more deserving if we wanted a guy from the early, early days.

I disagree about Ken. He was an OG who fought in UFC1 and was doing Pancrase before that. Went 24-4-2 before switching to WWF including wins over Bas (x2), Severn, Royce, Funaki, Maurice Smith, Kimo. Not one of the GOATs but a good fighter from his era.

REDDzone wrote:^^ I'd agree but I don't think anyone ranks Tank highly. I haven't heard his name in years. Tank was never good in any era. He never even won a ufc tournament. I'd think Marco Ruas or Oleg Taktarov would be more deserving if we wanted a guy from the early, early days.

I was not trolling. Tank did Tank, win or lose (lose). He wasn't jogging or doing plyometrics or throwing kicks or eating vegetables or abstaining from hard liquor (the night of the event). Bench press and box.I was trying to think of guys from my early memories of the UFC. Tank was among the 5 or so figures that really stood out.

That said, yeah, he isn't really of renown as an effective martial artist. You would put Taktarov or Pele or whomever above him.

So many other 'early' greats are actually still floating around and so ineligible. Almost all Pride fighters, short of Saku. Fujita fought last weekend!

REDDzone wrote:I disagree about Ken. He was an OG who fought in UFC1 and was doing Pancrase before that. Went 24-4-2 before switching to WWF including wins over Bas (x2), Severn, Royce, Funaki, Maurice Smith, Kimo. Not one of the GOATs but a good fighter from his era.

That's pretty sound.

REDDzone wrote:I disagree about Ken. He was an OG who fought in UFC1 and was doing Pancrase before that. Went 24-4-2 before switching to WWF including wins over Bas (x2), Severn, Royce, Funaki, Maurice Smith, Kimo. Not one of the GOATs but a good fighter from his era.

I agree with that. But, most people seem to want to rank him among the all time greats due mostly to name value.

There was a point when the UFC was Gracie, Shamrock, Severn and Tank. They were probably the most well known fighters in the world for a number of years...even if tank wasn’t good

Bumping this so it is lumped in with the other 2018 award polls, so it will hopefully get some more votes.