Looks like they just picked fights at random.

When I first heard about this, I thought it was a great idea and a chance to really showcase teh history of the UFC. Then when I found out that fights like Junie/Kaplan were on the list and many greats were missing, it really made me sick. Now, after reading this, I can honestly say, I have zero interest and will not be watching.

Yeah, discussed this with a lot of people the other day. The concensus was that it was garbage and Spike doesn’t know what they’re doing, or whoever was putting it together. The great, great fights won’t win either because the casual fanbase is bigger in the younger part of the demographic.

The UFC Hall of Fame is a pretty terrible idea.

When it isn’t being controlled by Zuffa to exclude fighters who have a beef with the organization, it is being pressured to add people for emotional reasons not related to their athletic accomplishments. The way its designed now is a mess.

I’m guessing they wanted fights from each card, or almost every card, so they went back and picked the most worthy fights from a card.

A lot of the more recent picks are random, but I think with honoring careers, you need distance (couple months ago, A-Rod would have been a shoo-in for the Baseball Hall of Fame, for example).

Interestingly, there’s only 9 fights from before UFC 31, then you get four fights from UFC 31, and four from UFC 34, which seems to indicate that this is when the UFC thinks the sport truly reached its current form.

Also, I agree with most of the choices around this period. It’s only when we get into recent history that you start seeing really dumb fights on the list.

But this is a list of the “best 181 fights” and will be whittled down to 100 for public consumption, so hopefully that will eliminate fights like Browning vs. Kaplan.

It does provide great fodder for arguments:

What 5 fights have no business on this list?

Which 5 fights were most overlooked by being left off?

It’s got to be Penn/Hughes 2 for me, great fight. Frank Edgar/Tyson Griffin is one of my all time favourites too. So many great fights over the years. The first fight I ever watched was Jens Pulver vs. BJ Penn 1 on the internet a few years back, that was a great fight too.

They should do one of these polls for Pride, but they probably won’t.

another guy who deserves a bit more respect for his prime.

The fight that got me into MMA.

I am usually a big Zuffa apologist but to select what fights we can actually vote for is appalling. Just because Dana has issues with several past UFC fighters doesn’t erase their contribution to the company (and sport).

I’m not opposed to Tanner’s HoF candidacy… but he should be considered on his merits when they’ve already gone through all the candidates before him, and not because of the timing of his death.

With the current list of inductees the UFC has, they still have an opportunity for legitimacy. They just can’t skip over the deserving SEG era guys by jumping the gun on inducting Hughes, Liddell, etc. The next four inductees should be Don Frye (10-1 in UFC), Mo Smith (won a belt, changed MMA), Pat Miletich (long time champion) and Frank Shamrock (ditto)

Rampage vs Eastman is on the list? Is that a joke? I guess the UFC are aiming for all the people who only started watching MMA after TUF and are ignoring the people who kept the business running when they had no cash

Out the first 5 fights listed,rampage and Sanchez fights were not epic of great in any sense there were both pretty forget ful

I have always thought it would be great if a site like Bloody Elbow, Sherdog ect. would start up their own “hall of fame”. Maybe even a collaboration between all of the major MMA news sites and have a set criteria of what a fighter would have to accomplish in order to be inducted. I think it would be a great way to honor fighters in an unbiased fashion.

Is there any sort of Martial Arts Hall of Fame out there? If so, would they eventually include the names of the best mixed martial artists along side the likes of Bruce Lee, or Chuck Norris, Benny the Jet etc? Because to me, after seeing what the UFC is building here, I’d really gain some comfort in knowing that the history of this sport will be placed in more objective, impartial and capable hands.

That’s all I have to say about this list.

I really want Goulet/Hieron to hit the top one hundred. I remember when that fight happened Dana said it was never going to be released for viewing in any form because of the negative impact it would have on the UFC. Allegedly the bloodiest fight in UFC history. I don’t know if it can outblood Haynes/Singer though.

I also hope Grice/Black makes the top one hundred. It would be a shame if it didn’t. Round 2 of that fight was the best round of that year next to the Round 2 of Takaya/Pato.