Being a fight fan at my age means having followed this sport from the very beginning and keeping it dialed in through the many evolutions that the UFC has gone through to today.
Money, business model and hype machine aside, my eyes and interest always come back to the fighters and the fights. The game was built to succeed on the backs of the old school fighters like Royce Gracie, Ken Shamrock and Tank Abbott, on down to Matt Hughes, BJ Penn and Randy Couture.
It seems every generation of fighters is replaced seamlessly by the next with some exciting new tricks and some familiar styles. Many of our favorite, old school fighters have been replaced by a younger version of themselves, much to the delight of the fans.
It can be a similar style, attitude or career path that mirrors the old and the new.
Here are some old school Fighters and their new school Equivalents.