(Video courtesy of YouTube/CP)
UFC featherweight champion José Aldo made his MMA debut seven years ago at EcoFight 1 in Amapá, Brazil.
Why it matters:
It’s not the fact that Aldo defeated Mario Bigola in just 18 seconds by soccer-kick KO at the event, it’s that he did it at the age of 17, setting the tone for what would become a dominant career. Bigola retired following the bout and Aldo racked up an impressive 19-1 record, including an undefeated eight-fight tear through the WEC and successful defenses of his WEC and UFC belts.
(Video courtesy of YouTube/ThiagoSilva187)
Aldo has been mentioned in the same breath as MMA greats like Anderson Silva, George St-Pierre and Fedor Emelianenko when discussing the best pound-for-pound fighters in the sport. Having run through the best fighters the WEC had to offer and getting close to doing the same in the UFC, a jump up to 155 may be in “Scarface’s” near future.
Kevin “The Monster Randleman was born 40 years ago in Sandusky, Ohio.
Why he matters:
(Video courtesy of YouTube/hayes9000)
A two time Division I NCAA Champion for Ohio State, in his prime, Randleman was one of the most dangerous fighters in MMA. He holds wins over Murilo “Ninja” Rua, Renato “Babalu” Sobral, Maurice Smith and Mirko “CroCop” Filipovic, but is perhaps best known for the back-and-forth wars he came up short in. His gruelling 21-minute split decision loss to Bas Rutten at UFC 20, last minute TKO loss to Randy Couture at UFC 28 and Pride 2004 Heavyweight Grand Prix quarterfinal loss to Fedor Emelianenko did little to tarnish Randleman’s impressive career as he seemed close to finishing each opponent at various times in those bouts. Unfortunately his highlight-reel suplex slam of Emelianenko that nearly knocked out the Russian ended with him tapping out to a kimura moments later.
(Video courtesy of YouTube/nsjanssen)