(Alistair Overeem wielding Mjolnir / Photo via Getty)
Sometimes fans need more to remember a fighter by than just a performance or a gimmick. They need an accessory to associate that fighter with–and the very best fighters understand this and know how to accessorize.
We brainstormed at Castle CagePotato as to what accessory was the greatest of all time. After several thought-sessions ended in magic ice cream binges and Martin Luther cosplay sessions, we decided to just list off all the best ones rather than just decide which one among them was the best:
(Alistair Overeem wielding Mjolnir / Photo via Getty)
By the CagePotato Staff
Sometimes fans need more to remember a fighter by than just a performance or a gimmick. They need an accessory to associate that fighter with–and the very best fighters understand this and know how to accessorize.
We brainstormed at Castle CagePotato as to what accessory was the greatest of all time. After several thought-sessions ended in magic ice cream binges and Martin Luther cosplay sessions, we decided to just list off all the best ones rather than just decide which one among them was the best:
It might be hard to believe when looking at him now, but there was a time not too long ago when Tim Sylvia was paid money to compete in physical activities. I know right? I’m seriously. It was the mid-2000’s, and “The Maine-iac” weighed in at a svelte 265 pounds. He was also the UFC Heavyweight champion, but looking back, I think the former accomplishment is arguably more impressive than the latter.
Regardless, after testing positive for stanozolol in his second title defense over Gan McGee at UFC 44, Sylvia would voluntarily relinquish his belt in disgrace*…and wind up receiving an immediate fight against Frank Mir for the belt he had just vacated at UFC 48 on June 19th, 2004 — ten years ago today.
It did not end well.
It might be hard to believe when looking at him now, but there was a time not too long ago when Tim Sylvia was paid money to compete in physical activities. I know right? I’m seriously. It was the mid-2000′s, and ”The Maine-iac” weighed in at a svelte 265 pounds. He was also the UFC Heavyweight champion, but looking back, I think the former accomplishment is arguably more impressive than the latter.
Regardless, after testing positive for stanozolol in his second title defense over Gan McGee at UFC 44, Sylvia would voluntarily relinquish his belt in disgrace*…and wind up receiving an immediate fight against Frank Mir for the belt he had just vacated at UFC 48 on June 19th, 2004 — ten years ago today.
It did not end well.
Not unlike a monster mash, Sylvia’s arm-breaking loss to Mir got on in a flash (again, my sincerest apologies). After a brief exchange on the feet, Sylvia latched onto Mir and drove him to the canvas, likely thinking that a ground and pound TKO over a fighter of Mir’s caliber would make for a nice addition to his already impressive resume. Problem was, Sylvia could barely get settled before Mir locked up a tight armbar that had “The Maine-iac” suddenly trying to slam his way out of trouble.
It was too late, and Mir proceeded to fracture Sylvia’s right radius bone in half. Herb Dean would lose his goddamn mind while witnessing this and wave off the fight, emitting a chorus boos from the audience so overwhelming that Bruce Buffer even forgot to announce Mir as champion.
The damndest thing is, Sylvia didn’t seem to care or even realize what kind of damage had been done to his arm — Herb Dean had to convince *him* that his arm had been broken. And even after seeing the footage of his arm doing just that, Sylvia would still not accept the stoppage.
“We’ll fight again,” said Mir in his post-fight interview. “We’ll fight right now,” Sylvia angrily replied.
I don’t know what was more impressive in that exchange, Sylvia’s toughness or his stupidity. Let’s go with toughness.
Unfortunately, Mir and Sylvia never would meet again. Mir would be forced to vacate his title after breaking his leg in a motorcycle accident and would not compete again for nearly two years. Sylvia, however, would eventually go on to reclaim his heavyweight championship and defend it two more times before running into some guy named Randy Couture at UFC 68. He would get axed from the UFC a couple fights later, get wrecked by Fedor in under a minute at Affliction: Banned, and then put on approximately 415 pounds while eating (heh) even quicker losses to Abe Wagnerand Ray Mercer. Sylvia has since been rallying for another fight in the UFC ever since, but are you fucking kidding me?
Just moments prior to Sylvia’s bone-shattering loss, Ken Shamrock picked up his last UFC win (and last notable win) over Kimo Leopoldo via KO (knee). It was quite an impressive accomplishment for the 40 year-old to say the least. The years that followed, however, would be filled with heartache. Heartache and defeat and lawsuits and more defeat. Also, heartache. But hey, Shamrock seems to be enjoying life as a bodyguard to the stars these days, and has even repaired his relationship with the UFC. So hooray for happyish endings.
We’ve thrown a video of Shamrock vs. Kimo below for your enjoyment. Drink in the nostalgia, you buncha bitches.
*Say what you want about Timmeh, you gotta give the man credit for owning up to his mistake and accepting his punishment like a man (looking at you, Vitor).
At the UFC 165 post-fight presser last month, UFC president Dana White showered praise upon UFC interim bantamweight champion Renan Barao, calling him one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the sport and remarking that the media hadn’t given enough credit to his eight-year, 32-fight undefeated streak, which has remained pristine since May 2005.
Barao has only tasted defeat once, and it was in the first fight of his career. The fact that he’s rebounded with the longest current undefeated streak in mixed martial arts — despite the fact that his first loss could have ruined his confidence forever — is absolutely amazing to me, as many young would-be prospects have crashed and burned in their debuts, never to be heard of again.
It got me thinking: What other mixed martial artists lost their first fight but then went on to have great success? I expected to bang out a list of ten fighters, but once I started doing the research, it blew my mind that some of the best fighters to ever compete in the sport, and a number of currently top 10-ranked fighters, actually lost their very first fight.
And so, I compiled a list of the top 24 MMA fighters of all time who lost their first fight. The list is based on accomplishments in the sport, overall skill level, and potential. Enjoy, and if I somehow missed somebody notable, please leave a comment below and explain why he or she should be included.
On July 26, 1996, at the age of 19 years old, Travis Fulton fought Dave Strasser in his MMA debut at Gladiators 1 in Davenport, Iowa, losing the fight via first-round submission. He then went on to win 249 fights, the most wins in mixed martial arts history. Fulton also holds the record for most fights (309) and most knockout wins (91) in MMA history.
Mind = blown.
Was Fulton a can crusher? Yes, yes he was. Or, should I say, yes he is, as he beat some nobody in his native Iowa just this past March. But you don’t win 249 MMA fights by accident, and Fulton deserves a place on this list based on volume alone.
(Renan Barao: Started from the bottom, now he here. / Photo via Getty)
At the UFC 165 post-fight presser last month, UFC president Dana White showered praise upon UFC interim bantamweight champion Renan Barao, calling him one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the sport and remarking that the media hadn’t given enough credit to his eight-year, 32-fight undefeated streak, which has remained pristine since May 2005.
Barao has only tasted defeat once, and it was in the first fight of his career. The fact that he’s rebounded with the longest current undefeated streak in mixed martial arts — despite the fact that his first loss could have ruined his confidence forever — is absolutely amazing to me, as many young would-be prospects have crashed and burned in their debuts, never to be heard of again.
It got me thinking: What other mixed martial artists lost their first fight but then went on to have great success? I expected to bang out a list of ten fighters, but once I started doing the research, it blew my mind that some of the best fighters to ever compete in the sport, and a number of currently top 10-ranked fighters, actually lost their very first fight.
And so, I compiled a list of the top 24 MMA fighters of all time who lost their first fight. The list is based on accomplishments in the sport, overall skill level, and potential. Enjoy, and if I somehow missed somebody notable, please leave a comment below and explain why he or she should be included.
On July 26, 1996, at the age of 19 years old, Travis Fulton fought Dave Strasser in his MMA debut at Gladiators 1 in Davenport, Iowa, losing the fight via first-round submission. He then went on to win 249 fights, the most wins in mixed martial arts history. Fulton also holds the record for most fights (309) and most knockout wins (91) in MMA history.
Mind = blown.
Was Fulton a can crusher? Yes, yes he was. Or, should I say, yes he is, as he beat some nobody in his native Iowa just this past March. But you don’t win 249 MMA fights by accident, and Fulton deserves a place on this list based on volume alone.
Akihiro Gono was just 19 when the Japanese icon made his MMA debut in his home country against Yasunori Okuda in the first round of the Lumax Cup: Tournament of J’ 94, way back in April 1994. Like many of the fighters of the time, Gono wasn’t ready to defend submissions, and he tapped out to a first-round toe hold.
Gono may have lost the fight, but he would go on to have a very solid career that saw him compete in the UFC, PRIDE, Shooto, Pancrase, Sengoku, and finally Bellator, which would be his final stop.
In May 2012, after a solid 18-year run as a fan favorite, Gono fought for the last time against current Bellator lightweight champion Michael Chandler at Bellator 67, losing the fight via first-round KO.
Some will laugh that Minowaman is on this list, but he deserves to be after amassing a respectable 55-35-8 record during his cult-legendary career as a journeyman, where — like the great Fedor Emelianenko — he was notorious for fighting and beating larger opponents in the UFC, PRIDE, Dream and Pancrase, amongst other promotions.
However, he was also notorious for losing to some of them.
The first of his 35 losses came to Yuzo Tateishi via decision on March 30, 1996, at the Lumax Cup: Tournament of J ‘96 in Japan. It was the first of many career losses for Minowa, who started off his career 2-9-2 in his first 13 fights. To his credit though, he rebounded to eventually leave the sport with a winning record, and became a big star in PRIDE because he always put on exciting fights and feared no man.
The name “Minowaman” is always one that makes the hardcores’ hearts beat whenever anyone brings it up. Not bad for a guy who at first glance looked like he would contribute nothing in the sport.
(NOTE: The graphic in the video say his record was 3-1 but that tally likely referred to his amateur fights.)
Back on February 15, 1997 in – surprise, surprise – Iowa, a 24-year-old Shonie Carter got into his first professional MMA fight, the first of many for him.
It didn’t last long, however, as he was KO’ed by future five-time UFC vet Laverne Clark at Monte Cox’s Extreme Challenge 3, just nine seconds into the first round in what was the MMA debut of both men.
It became a classic KO in regional circuit MMA history.
Despite that early career loss, Carter then went on to have an unexpectedly awesome career where he attained 50 wins, including 26 by stoppage. He even made it to the Ultimate Fighting Championship and, in total, he fought six times in the UFC — one more than Clark, who knocked him out in that first battle.
One of those 26 aforementioned stoppage wins I mentioned — and one of the best KOs in UFC history — was his spinning back fist knockout of Matt Serra at UFC 31. Serra, who at the time was considered to be below Carter in the ranks, later defeated Georges St-Pierre at UFC 69 to win the UFC welterweight title. Carter, on the other hand, never quite made it to the top of the sport, to say the least, but at least he built a memorable persona as a stone-cold pimp.
Brian Ebersole’s first MMA bout took place on February 24, 2000 against Chris Albandia at TCC – Total Combat Challenge in Chicago. He lost the fight via decision.
He was just 18 years old.
However, despite the loss, Ebersole has gone on to have an awesome journeyman career that has seen him compile an excellent record of 50-15-1, 1 NC.
Ebersole finally made it to the UFC in 2012, upsetting Chris Lytle at UFC 127 and then winning three more in a row before a split decision loss to James Head at UFC 149 ended his win streak. He has sat out the past year with injuries.
But things are looking up for Ebersole, as he will finally make his return to the cage at UFC 167 against Rick Story. It’s a difficult matchup on paper, but it’s winnable. And even if he loses, the fans get to see the Hairrow — well hopefully, anyways — or at least one of those fancy cartwheel kicks. Make it happen, Brian.
On April 7, 2007, at UCW 7 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, two unknown Canadian women fought each other. One was Sarah Kaufman, who would later go on to win the Strikeforce women’s bantamweight champion and who will be making her UFC debut this Saturday at UFC 166, and the other was a 21-year-old Alexis Davis, who would eventually make it into the UFC as well.
On that night, Kaufman was the better woman, as she finished Davis via strikes in the third round. And Kaufman would demonstrate her superiority once again, defeating Davis via majority decision in March 2012 at Strikeforce: Tate vs. Rousey.
However, Davis looks to be on the rise, and she certainly showed her potential in defeating Rosi Sexton in her Octagon debut at UFC 161. If her and Kaufman ever meet for a trilogy match, it’s possible Davis might finally get a win over her rival.
Tournaments seem like a great way to determine the best competitor from a group of athletes. You have 8 (or 16 or 32 or whatever the number) fighters, put them in a bracket, and then let them fight it out. The last dude standing clearly must be the best because he survived the tournament, right?
Tournaments — like the ones the UFC used to run — are heavily dependent on how the bracket is organized. Some fighters get an easy run, others get a gauntlet.
This got us at Cage Potato thinking: What if some of the early UFC tournament brackets were re-organized or even shuffled just a little bit? Who would end up becoming the “Ultimate Fighters” of the 1990s? Let’s find out!
UFC 2
UFC 2 was the first and only 16-man tournament run by the UFC. The first round of the tournament — save for Royce Gracie’s fight (of course)—didn’t air on the PPV and aren’t on the DVD either. These “lost fights” from UFC 2 have quite a few interesting characters such as the enigmatic Pencak Silat master Alberto Cerro Leon and the chubby, sweatpants-clad Robert Lucarelli.
Look at the complete bracket and see how many names you recognize. Most of these guys from the UFC 2 dark matches had no chance in the tournament, save for a man named Freek (or Frank) Hamaker. We’re going to stick with Freek because it rhymes with Reek. A fighter like Hamaker was a rarity in the early days. He wasn’t a hapless striker fated to be embarrassed. He was a sambo practitioner who trained under legendary European grappler Chris Dolman.
Hamaker’s first (and only) fight was at UFC 2 against the mysterious San Soo Kung Fu man Thaddeus Luster. The fight went like the typical early UFC fight. The guy with grappling immediately took down the guy without grappling and won shortly afterwards. Hamaker withdrew from the tournament after defeating Luster and disappeared to the pornography theater from whence he came.
(And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why history must be re-written.)
Tournaments seem like a great way to determine the best competitor from a group of athletes. You have 8 (or 16 or 32 or whatever the number) fighters, put them in a bracket, and then let them fight it out. The last dude standing clearly must be the best because he survived the tournament, right?
Tournaments — like the ones the UFC used to run — are heavily dependent on how the bracket is organized. Some fighters get an easy run, others get a gauntlet.
This got us at Cage Potato thinking: What if some of the early UFC tournament brackets were re-organized or even shuffled just a little bit? Who would end up becoming the “Ultimate Fighters” of the 1990s? Let’s find out!
UFC 2
UFC 2 was the first and only 16-man tournament run by the UFC. The first round of the tournament — save for Royce Gracie’s fight (of course)—didn’t air on the PPV and aren’t on the DVD either. These “lost fights” from UFC 2 have quite a few interesting characters such as the enigmatic Pencak Silat master Alberto Cerro Leon and the chubby, sweatpants-clad Robert Lucarelli.
Look at the complete bracket and see how many names you recognize. Most of these guys from the UFC 2 dark matches had no chance in the tournament, save for a man named Freek (or Frank) Hamaker. We’re going to stick with Freek because it rhymes with Reek. A fighter like Hamaker was a rarity in the early days. He wasn’t a hapless striker fated to be embarrassed. He was a sambo practitioner who trained under legendary European grappler Chris Dolman.
Hamaker’s first (and only) fight was at UFC 2 against the mysterious San Soo Kung Fu man Thaddeus Luster. The fight went like the typical early UFC fight. The guy with grappling immediately took down the guy without grappling and won shortly afterwards. Hamaker withdrew from the tournament after defeating Luster and disappeared to the pornography theater from whence he came.
Hamaker had tremendous potential given his background in an effective martial art and given that having any kind of grappling ability in the early UFCs was tantamount to bringing a taser into the cage with you.
We don’t need to re-imagine the UFC 2 bracket much to have a more interesting outcome.
Let’s just pretend that Hamaker never got injured and consequently never withdrew.
After defeating Luster, he’d take on kickboxer Johnny Rhodes. Judging by the fact that Patrick Smith submitted Rhodes in a little over a minute, a more qualified grappler in Hamaker probably wouldn’t need much more time to do the same.
That would bring Hamaker into the semifinals against Pat Smith, who was previously submitted by Ken Shamrock at UFC 1 in short order, and was destroyed in the UFC 2 finals by Royce Gracie. Smith may have had enough grappling to beat the Ray Wizards and Rudyard Moncayos of the world but he likely wouldn’t have enough submission acumen to beat Hamaker. So in CagePotato’s alternate reality version of events, The “Freak” — that wasn’t his nickname, but it should’ve been. Freek “The Freak” Hamaker? You don’t like it? Fine. — therefore gets his hand raised for third time that night.
Could Hamaker really have taken out Royce Gracie in the finals?
Probably not, but keep in mind that Gracie initially struggled against Keith Hackney at UFC 5, a karate guy who had added just a smattering of BJJ into his arsenal. So, Gracie still would probably have won UFC 2 but he would’ve looked mortal doing it — and that’s the important thing.
At UFC 1, Royce Gracie looked like an unstoppable killer; maybe not a Che Mills-level killer, but a killer nonetheless. He took martial arts “experts” down and submitted them without breaking a sweat. Gracie did much of the same at UFC 2.
It’s unlikely that Hamaker would’ve beaten Gracie (pre-drug-testing Ken Shamrock lost to Gracie the first time and the skilled Judoka Remco Pardoel also lost to Gracie as well), but he had a good chance of at least making Gracie look like a regular, fallible fighter.
A Hamaker-Gracie finale would’ve shown the world that BJJ (or, more specifically “Gracie” Jiu-Jitsu) wasn’t a martial arts panacea and that Royce Gracie wasn’t some kind of god. It took Jesus-freak, motivational speaker, and meth enthusiast Kimo Leopoldo to do that.
But where Tank’s backyard brawl at least had the decency to determine a winner, no such clarity could be provided with last evening’s brawl. Those that were able to stay awake for the “fight”‘s entirety were given no closure as to who won, and likely walked back to their tricked out El Camino’s soaked in Natty Ice and disappointment. But considering that these are the kind of people who willingly paid to see the likes of Coolio, Octomom, Joey Buttafuoco, Tila Tequila, and Jose fucking Canseco square off, all whilst Ron Jeremy strutted his stuff as a ring girl, mind you, it’s hard to imagine that their hopes were ever that high to begin with. Or their IQ’s, for that matter.
As soon as we find video evidence that this blasphemy actually occurred we will be sure to let you know, because this is the kind of hard hitting story that keeps the Potato Nation strong.
Five of the fighters from the show are still active in the UFC and four are undefeated in the Octagon.
TUF winner Court McGee, who defeated Kris McCray in the finale by rear naked choke also beat Ryan Jensen by arm triangle at UFC 121 in October. He’s set to face Don Yi Yang at UFN “Battle at the Bayou” in September.
Kyle Noke, who was beaten by teammate McCray by unanimous decision in the quarterfinals of the show, defeated Josh Bryant by TKO at the finale and rattled off two rear naked choke submission wins against Rob Kimmons at UFC 122 in November and TUF 11 cast mate Chris Camozzi at UFC 127 at home in Australia in February. He’ll face Tom Lawlor next at UFC Live: Hardy vs. Lytle in August.
Brad Tavares, who lost to McGee in the semi-finals by rear naked choke is undefeated in official competition as well as 2-0 in the Octagon.He defeated TUF 11 quarterfinal opponent Seth Baczynski at the finale by unanimous decision and Phil Baroni by knockout at UFC 125 in January.
Five of the fighters from the show are still active in the UFC and four are undefeated in the Octagon.
TUF winner Court McGee, who defeated Kris McCray in the finale by rear naked choke also beat Ryan Jensen by arm triangle at UFC 121 in October. He’s set to face Don Yi Yang at UFN “Battle at the Bayou” in September.
Kyle Noke, who was beaten by teammate McCray by unanimous decision in the quarterfinals of the show, defeated Josh Bryant by TKO at the finale and rattled off two rear naked choke submission wins against Rob Kimmons at UFC 122 in November and TUF 11 cast mate Chris Camozzi at UFC 127 at home in Australia in February. He’ll face Tom Lawlor next at UFC Live: Hardy vs. Lytle in August.
Brad Tavares, who lost to McGee in the semi-finals by rear naked choke is undefeated in official competition as well as 2-0 in the Octagon.He defeated TUF 11 quarterfinal opponent Seth Baczynski at the finale by unanimous decision and Phil Baroni by knockout at UFC 125 in January.
Nick Ring, who was forced out of the competition due to a lingering knee injury that also left him unable to compete at the finale is undefeated in his MMA career and is 2-0 in the UFC with a February UFC 127 unanimous decision win over Riki Fukuda and a UFC 131 rear naked choke win over James Head at last weekend’s UFC 131.
Cage Potato TUF 11 guest blogger Rich Attonito beat Rafael Natal at the finale and lost a hard-fought decision to Dave Branch at the TUF 12 Finale in December. He squares off with Daniel Roberts next week at UFC Live: Marquardt vs. Story.
Strikeforce Challengers: Villasenor vs. Cyborg went down two years ago.
Why it matters:
The card, which featured a ton of talent was one of Strikeforce’s “B” show’s best. Tim Kennedy made his debut with the promotion on the card, as did Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos. Kennedy defeated Nick Thompson via tapout due to strikes, while Santos dropped a split decision to Joey Vilasenor.
Also on the card were future SF women’s welterweight champion Sarah Kaufman, Dennis Hallman, Lyle Beerbohm, Luke Rockhold, Conor Heun and Duane Ludwig.
UFC 48: Payback went down 7 years ago.
Why it matters:
Georges St-Pierre and Matt Hughes both earned a shot at the vacant UFC welterweight title with their respective wins over Jay Hieron and Renato Verissimo.
Frank Mir won the vacant UFC heavyweight strap by defeating (and breaking the arm of) Tim Sylvia. Three months later he was in a serious motorcycle accident in which he broke his leg in several places. He didn’t compete again until nearly two years after winning the belt. Two years later he won the interim title by defeating Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira by TKO at UFC 92 in December 2008, but failed to unify the belts by beating Brock Lesnar seven months later at UFC 100 in July 2009. An impressive unanimous decision win last month over Roy Nelson at UFC 130 has elevated him back to contender status.
Evan Tanner defeated Phil Baroni for the second time in as many fights. One more win over Robbie Lawler (via triangle) at UFC 50 earned Tanner a shot at the vacant UFC middleweight strap, which he won by beating highly-touted David Terrell at UFC 51 by first-round TKO.
Ken Shamrock beat Kimo Leopolda by first-round TKO (knee). The fight would be Kimo’s last in the Octagon. Shamrock made $170,000 for the bout (including a $50,000 win bonus), while Kimo took home $55,000. St-Pierre, who was on the undercard, made $8,000, including a $4,000 win bonus.
Mike Swick was born 31 years ago.
Why he matters:
Of the 16 contestants from the show, only seven are still in the UFC. Although he hasn’t enjoyed the same level of success as cast mates like Forrest Griffin, Josh Koscheck, Diego Sanchez, Kenny Florian or Chris Leben, Swick, like Stephan Bonnar, has some personal victories to his credit.
Beating a former number one contender like David Loiseau like he did at UFC 63 was a huge upset. Beating the career-threatening stomach ailment that hindered his training and ability to put on and cut weight is another notch in his belt. Although his job with the UFC is at risk coming off two straight losses, a year and a half away from the game spent training in places like Thailand and medical treatment to cure his misdiagnosed dyspepsia will hopefully have done the welterweight good and help to rejuvenate his career.
His next fight is against Erick Silva at UFC 134 in Rio in August.
