Here's our third installment of the USA TODAY/Bloody Elbow Top 50 MMA fights in modern history. Sergio Non has written up the next block at USAT's Fighting Stances blog. To start, here's our criteria:

Some of the 50 fights we'll list aren't necessarily the best MMA bouts, but all of them are milestones for one reason or another, for better or for worse. The idea is to show how the sport has evolved. These are the fights that made the sport what it is today.

Here's the next 5 fights, covering 1997 to 2000:

1. Randy Couture def. Vitor Belfort, Oct. 17, 1997 —   UFC 15
   Looking back on this match, both men are still active fighters, but one has gone on to a Hall of Fame career and the other is still driving fans to ask "what if?" But coming into the fight, there was only on superstar in the Octagon -- Vitor "Phenom" Belfort. The Carlson Gracie protege's fast hands and string of KO wins had everyone assuming he would become the next UFC heavyweight champ. Enter Randy Couture and a textbook display of dirty boxing. Their careers would intertwine over much of the next decade, with Couture consistently reaching higher peaks than the mercurial Belfort.
   
   
2. Frank Shamrock def. Kevin Jackson, Dec. 21, 1997 — UFC Ultimate Japan
   This fight decided the first UFC Middleweight title (now the Light Heavyweight belt). Instantly it became the marquee belt of the promotion. Jackson was heavily favored to win. An Olympic Gold medalist free-style wrestler, Jackson had steamrolled every opponent he'd faced in his young MMA career. Shamrock was on the comeback trail. In 1996 a combination of back stage politics and in ring losses had run him out of Pancrase. He then went on to lose his first true No Holds Barred fight to John Lober, an opponent Jackson had mauled in his MMA debut. Frank redeemed himself by winning a war against Tsuyoshi Kohsaka. The momentum from that win got him the opportunity to face Enson Inoue at Vale Tudo Japan 97. The UFC had already indicated that they wanted the winner to face Jackson for their MW title. Most expected Inoue to win, but Shamrock pulled out the win (technically a DQ win, but he'd already dropped Enson when Enson's brother entered the ring) to face Jackson. The UFC title fight itself was an anti-climax as Frank instantly armbarred Jackson for the win, the first of a string of dazzling wins for Frank as UFC champ.
   
   
3. Pat Miletich def. Mikey Burnett, October 16, 1998 — UFC Ultimate Brazil
   This fight was for the first UFC lightweight title, now the Welterweight belt that GSP and Thiago Alves will fight for on July 11. Burnett was an impressive talent out of Ken Shamrock's Lion's Den, the top MMA camp of its day. He'd pioneered the sprawl and brawl style that Chuck Liddell and others would later use so well to batter top wrestler Townsend Saunders and Luta Livre ace Eugenio Tadeu. His opponent had already won a UFC lightweight tournament and was probably the top talent to come out of Iowa's pioneering regional MMA scene. The fight itself was a typical Miletich grinder, going to a decision after an appalling lack of action. But its on the list because the title it awarded has a linear legacy that still matters to this day: Miletich > Carlos Newton > Matt Hughes > Georges St Pierre (yeah yeah I know about B.J. Penn and Matt Serra being in the mix two, but they are just blips on the belt's history).
   
   
4. Frank Shamrock def. Tito Ortiz, Sept. 24, 1999 — UFC 22
   This fight on the other hand is not only of historical significance, it was also an epic bout, truly one of the all-time best MMA fights. Shamrock had defended his UFC title three times since taking the belt, virtually cleaning out the division at the time but one challenger stood out. Tito Ortiz had exploded onto the scene by humiliating Shamrock's former Lion's Den teammates Guy Mezger and Jerry Bohlander. Tito seemed unstoppable. One of the first fighters to cut a lot of weight, he would enter the Octagon with a 20lb+ weight advantage over his opponents. His wrestling skills and knack for devastating ground and pound made most expect him to win. But Shamrock delivered one of the greatest ever performances in the fight. Pulling guard and riding out Tito's blitz for three and a half rounds, he stood up in the fourth round, reversed Tito and unleashed a battering that won the fight and had the fans roaring. The UFC is writing this fight, and Frank's whole reign, out of their official history, but don't be fooled, this is probabaly the greatest UFC fight of all time. Bonus animated gif in the full entry.
   
   
5. Kazushi Sakuraba def. Royce Gracie, May 1, 2000 — PRIDE Grand Prix 2000
   In the last installment, I talked about Rickson Gracie's humiliation of Nobuhiko Takada at the first PRIDE. Well payback's a bitch and Takada protege Kazushi Sakuraba met Rickson's younger brother Royce at the first PRIDE Open Weight Grand Prix. Royce Gracie demanded and got special rules, including no time limits. This came back to bite him as Sakuraba's superior conditioning and wicked leg kicks wore him down over the course of the longest match in modern MMA history. Here's a nice condensed version of the match. This fight, along with Sakuraba's wins over Royler and Renzo, established the legend of "the Gracie Hunter" and ensured Sakuraba's place in MMA history. Modern fans coming to Sakuraba for the first time are strongly urged to watch his bouts with Carlos Newton, Vernon "Tiger" White and Alan Goes to see some grappling battles that are still some of the most entertaining MMA bouts ever waged.

Read Parts One and Two and the Prequel.

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Here's our second installment of the USA TODAY/Bloody Elbow Top 50 MMA fights in modern history. Sergio Non has written up the next block at USAT's Fighting Stances blog. To start, here's our criteria:

Some of the 50 fights we'll list aren't necessarily the best MMA bouts, but all of them are milestones for one reason or another, for better or for worse. The idea is to show how the sport has evolved. These are the fights that made the sport what it is today.

Here's the next 5 fights, covering 1996 to 1997 (the links go to pieces that discuss the fight in question):

1. Mark Coleman def. Don Frye, July 12, 1996 — UFC 10
   This fight introduced the term "Ground and Pound" to the MMA universe. Coleman wasn't the first wrestler with serious amateur credentials to enter the UFC, that honor goes to Dan Severn. But Coleman was the first wrestler to combine his finely honed position control skills with a brutal and relentless striking attack on the ground. Watching him roll over Don Frye in the tournament finals, at a time when Don Frye's wrestling/boxing combo was state of the art left no doubt that a new era of MMA history had dawned. Still a fun fight to watch.
   
   
2. Mark Coleman def. Dan Severn, Feb. 7, 1997 — UFC 12
   This fight put a capstone on the Coleman era of mega-wrestlers. Dan Severn, the holder of the Superfight belt that he took from Ken Shamrock at UFC 9, came in as the reigning champ. Severn's win at the first Ultimate Ultimate had further sealed his status at the crest of the first wave of UFC stars. After Coleman dismantled him in a one-sided bout, Mark Coleman left the Octagon as the first official heavyweight champ in UFC history. This fight showed that the second wave of UFC stars had a clear leg up on those of the first wave who were still active.
   
   
3. Maurice Smith def. Mark Coleman, July 27, 1997 — UFC 14
   It was a short reign. Just when it looked like Mark Coleman (and his peer the equally hulking Mark Kerr) was an unstoppable force and that no one would have the combination of power and grappling skill to stop the new wave of monster wrestlers, kickboxer Maurice Smith came to the UFC. Smith had already KO'd the heavyweight BJJ fighter Marcus "Conan" Silveira to win the Extreme Fighting Championship title. He came to the UFC after a couple of years in Pancrase and, more importantly, after putting together a new camp with Japanese RINGS star Tsuyoshi Kohsaka and Frank Shamrock. Maurice Smith had a forumula for beating the grapplers -- learn enough jiu jitsu to defend yourself on the ground, survive the early assault, drill some escapes, get back to your feet and have a kickboxing match with an exhausted grappler. The formula worked perfectly in this fight except Coleman survived to lose by decision rather than being KO'd. The highlights of the bout are well worth a look, the whole thing is a bit much. In retrospect its amazing how static the groundfighting was, even in a landmark bout. This fight firmly established the rock-paper-scissors dynamic of modern MMA and proved there was a place in the game for top strikers who were willing to learn enough groundfighting to compete.
   
   
4. Renzo Gracie vs. Eugenio Tadeu, draw, Sept. 27, 1997 — Pentagon Combat
   I was watching American Top Team head man Ricardo Liborio on Inside MMA last night and he was talking about how he sees the other big MMA camps as "rivals, not enemies." That was not how the exponents of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Luta Livre saw each other back in the 1990s. The feud went back to the 1940s and had political and cultural implications that went way beyond gi vs no-gi grappling. This fight was the end of the feud. Tadue was one of the standard bearers of Luta Livre who had participated in two of the biggest Brazilian MMA events of the 1980s and 1990s, splitting the pair. He'd also fought Renzo's cousin Royler Gracie to a stand-still in a dojo match. This bout ended in a riot that finally ended the BJJ vs Luta Livre feud. It also ended NHB/MMA as a viable business proposition in Brazil. Luta livre would go on to fade as a distinct style with its biggest prospects like Renato "Babalu" Sobral and Alexandre Franca "Pequeno" Nogueira going on to be more associated with BJJ than their old style.
   
   
5. Rickson Gracie def. Nobuhiko Takada, Oct. 11, 1997 — Pride 1
   By 1997, Rickson had already established himself as the most feared name in Japanese MMA through his sweeps of the 1994 and 1995 Vale Tudo Japan tournaments. Combined with the exposure his brother Royce's UFC wins had gotten in Japan and the Gracie myth was in full-effect in the Land of the Rising Sun. Nobuhiko Takada was one of the biggest pro-wrestlers in Japan. As a protege of Antonio Inoki, Takada was part of a generation of Japanese pro-wrestlers who pushed their form of sports entertainment closer and closer to becoming "real." Unlike his peers who founded Shooto, Pancrase, and RINGs, Takada's UWFi was a 100% worked promotion that simply traded on an image of toughness and real catchwrestling skills. To burnish their reputation, Takada had dispatched his protege Yoji Anjo to Rickson's LA dojo to challenge the top Gracie. Rickson battered the unfortunate Anjo and sent him home. In 1997, PRIDE put on the biggest MMA show of all time and signed Takada, the biggest pro-wrestling star of his generation to face Rickson Gracie, the invincible MMA legend. The 47,000 fans packed into the Tokyo Dome didn't get to see much of a fight as Rickson armbarred Takada in short order, but PRIDE was born and Takada's protege Kazushi Sakuraba was waiting for the Gracies.

This has inspired me to get back to my MMA History series which still hasn't gotten thru 1997 (a helluva year for MMA). I'm also putting together a list of 25 or so fights that didn't make our top 50 list -- the hardcores top mma fights.

Read Parts One and Threee and the Prequel.

Beau Dure at USA Today has posted the first two installments of our top 50 fights in MMA history series. Again here's the criteria:

Some of the 50 fights we'll list aren't necessarily the best MMA bouts, but all of them are milestones for one reason or another, for better or for worse. The idea is to show how the sport has evolved. These are the fights that made the sport what it is today.

Here's the first 10 fights, covering 1993 to 1996 (the links go to previous MMA History pieces we've done that discuss the fight in question):

1. Ken Shamrock def. Masakatsu Funaki, Sept. 21, 1993; Pancrase 1
   You can watch this fight here. The Pancrase rules will be a bit of a shock to modern MMA fans. They didn't allow closed fist strikes while standing and a "gentleman's agreement" precluded striking on the ground. Nevertheless, this match from the premier event of the "hybrid wrestling" promotion was a key moment in the development of modern MMA. Shamrock surprised everyone by beating Funaki, the man who had taught him submission grappling in their several years of doing worked wrestling matches together. Thus, when Ken Shamrock traveled to the states a couple of months later and fought in the UFC, he was truly fighting as the champion of Japanese shootfighting. Their 2nd and 3rd fights are worth a look too.
   
   
2. Royce Gracie def. Ken Shamrock, Nov. 12, 1993; UFC 1
   Unfortunately for Ken, once he got there he found that he was in the same quarter finals bracket as a representative of an even more robust proto-MMA tradition: Royce Gracie. Royce's jiu jitsu allowed him to capitalize on the weaknesses of Shamrock's submission over position style. His gi allowed him to sink a choke that Shamrock probably didn't know was possible. This fight is still a hoot to watch today. One thing I've always found kind of ironic is that Gracie's Brazilian fighting tradition was based on Japan's ancient jiu jitsu fighting style, while Shamrock's Japanese fighting tradition was based on the English/American catch-wrestling style first brought to Japan by Ad Santel and Karl Gotch. Right from the beginning, modern MMA was a cultural melting-pot.
   
   
3. Royce Gracie def. Kimo Leopoldo, Sept. 9, 1994; UFC 3
   This was the first MMA fight I ever saw, but that's not why it's on the list. Kimo was the first opponent to expose cracks in Royce Gracie's seemingly invincible aura. Kimo showed that a mad brawling intensity and a major size and strength advantage could really give Royce trouble. Take a look. Its a very ugly fight by today's standards. There is hair pulling and repeated and deliberate nut shots and it was all legal. This fight occured in a tournament that was designed to end in a Gracie vs Shamrock finale, but Royce had to drop out after this fight (which he did in the cage at the beginning of his next fight, picking up a loss) and Shamrock injured himself/quit after his quarter-finale win. This began a pattern of Shamrock botching major events that continued all the way up to the death of EliteXC.
   
   
4. Ken Shamrock vs. Royce Gracie, draw, April 7, 1995; UFC 5
   This is NOT a fun fight to watch and probably did as much to kill the commercial momentum of the early UFC as John McCain. Shamrock had been watching Royce closely in the two years since their first match and had figured out that if he just turtled up in his guard, Royce wouldn't be able to do much about it. This was before the stand up rule so Shamrock literally stalled for the full 30 minute regulation period. In the overtime, he landed a right hand that put a big mouse on Royce's face before they returned to Royce's guard. It was officially a draw, but it effectively ran Royce Gracie out of the UFC. After this event, his brother Rorion sold his ownership share in the UFC and Royce wouldn't return until UFC 60, eleven years later.
   
   
5. Ken Shamrock def. Dan Severn, July 14, 1995; UFC 6
   This one was a fun one, well worth a viewing. Severn was the first modern MMA fighter to come out of a collegiate/Olympic wrestling background. His run at UFC 4 ended with an epic loss to Royce Gracie (in a match that's on my top 65 list for sure). Royce showed everyone what a triangle choke was -- a move so unexpected that the UFC commentators had no idea what was happening. Severn went on to win the tournament at UFC 5, setting up this "Superfight" at UFC 6. Effectively this is the beginning of the UFC heavyweight championship belt that Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir will fight for next week. In this one, Severn shows that he is a physical force to be reckoned with, but he just isn't ready for even the most basic submission holds -- in this case a guillotine choke. Shamrock would hold the UFC superfight title until Severn took it in their UFC 9 rematch, also known as the worst MMA fight of all time.
   
   
6. David "Tank" Abbott def. John Matua, July 14, 1995; UFC 6
   This was acutally earlier in the same evening as the Shamrock vs Severn fight so technically should be #5 on this list. Oh well. Its also the first UFC fight I ever saw live on PPV. I wasn't the only budding jiu jitsu acolyte who was stunned and staggered by the brutal beating the thuggish Abbott inflicted on his burly opponent. Abbott made MMA safe for testosterone addicts who wanted to see pure brutality and raw power get their due. Abbott actually had a fair amount of wrestling and boxing training, but that wasn't really dwelt on in the presentation of this outsized new character. He went on to lose in the tournament final to Sambo stylist Oleg Taktarov in a fight with a good bit of drama, but Tank is the one who got people talking.
   
   
7. Marco Ruas def. Paul Varelens, Sept. 8, 1995; UFC 7
   UFC 7 saw the emergence of yet another new stylistic tradition that would go on to become a major influence in the modern MMA mix: Muay Thai. The brutal traditional prize fighting style of Thailand was brought to the UFC by a Brazilian, Marco Ruas. His use of leg kicks to chop down the giant Paul Varelens was a triumph of technique. Ruas was also the earliest UFC competitor to combine effective grappling with a solid standup attack. He had studied no-gi grappling with Brazil's top Luta Livre camps. Unfortunately, he didnt get to continue his rivalry with Jiu Jitsu (see this fight from the 1980s for Ruas vs BJJ) in his MMA career, nor would he ever top this win, but his influence is seen in virtually every modern MMA fight when the leg kicks fly.
   
   
8. Dan Severn def. Oleg Taktarov, Dec. 16, 1995; Ultimate Ultimate '95
   The UFC's Ultimate Ultimate tournament was the kind of event that MMA fans have come to know all too well, a fight card so impossibly stacked with dream matchups that it can't help but disappoint. Bringing four UFC tournament champions (Severn, Taktarov, Ruas and Steve Jennum) together with four of the most formidable also rans (Tank, Varlens, Keith Hackney, and Dave Beneteau) into one eight man tournament delivered a few good fights, but it also featured some dancing from Ruas and a bravura display of lay and pray from Severn. Nevertheless, the final between Taktarov and Severn, a rematch of their UFC 5 bout, was the kind of battle between an expert positional grappler and a master of submissions that I still find to be a treat. This event firmly established a clear pecking order among the early major UFC fighters not named Shamrock or Gracie and Severn emerged on top, setting up his rematch with Shamrock at UFC 9.
   
   
9. Don Frye def. Gary Goodridge, Feb. 16, 1996; UFC 8
   If the Ultimate Ultimate closed the books on the first chapter of UFC history, chapter two opened with a bang at UFC 8. It was possibly the most action packed UFC to date. Both Frye and Goodridge scored spectacular knockouts in the early rounds of the tourny and their collision in the finals was one of the best back and forth fights in the early years of the promotion. Frye brought a more polished version of the boxer-wrestler blend and Goodridge relied on raw power. That wouldn't be enough as Frye unleashed some of the first dirty boxing MMA fans would see.
   
   
10. Bas Rutten def. Frank Shamrock, May 16, 1996; Pancrase - Truth 5
    This bout was the apex of mid-period Pancrase. Still hobbled by their eccentric rule set, they continued to put on great fights. Rutten was a Muay Thai trained Dutchman who had learned submissions on the job in the hybrid wrestling league. Frank Shamrock was the adopted younger brother of Ken Shamrock and a key member of the early Lion's Den gym team. Not just an epic battle, this bout was a key formative experience for the young Shamrock. It marked the end of his early run of triumphs and began a series of defeats that he would have to dig deep to recover from. For Rutten, it represented a star at his apex. Dominating his league and reaching a career high even his brief run as UFC champ wouldn't match. Watch the fight in the full entry. Also see this post on Bas Rutten.

Keep your eyes peeled for the next installment of this series and let me know where you disagree in the comments.

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Luke and I had the distinct pleasure of helping Beau Dure and Sergio Non at USA Today put together a list of the top 50 MMA fights of all time. Here's the rationale:

Some of the 50 fights we'll list aren't necessarily the best MMA bouts, but all of them are milestones for one reason or another, for better or for worse. The idea is to show how the sport has evolved. These are the fights that made the sport what it is today.

We started the list in 1993 with the first UFC and Pancrase fights, but we also put together a little list of some important pre-1993 fights:

1. Ad Santel def. Tokugoro Ito, 1914
2. Masahiko Kimura def. Helio Gracie, 1955
3. Gene LeBell def. Milo Savage, 1963
4. Antonio Inoki vs. Muhammad Ali, draw, 1976
5. Rickson Gracie apparently def. Hugo Duarte, 1988

I've written about 4/5 of them in the past and they're hotlinked so check 'em out if you don't know the backstories there.

For this post, I'll talk a little bit about the living legend that is Rickson Gracie with fight videos in the full entry.

The thing to understand about Rickson is that he was the standard bearer for the Gracie dynasty in Brazil (and later Japan) from the time of his cousin Roll Gracie's death in 1982 until at least 1995, if not 2000. The Gracies were more than a family of fighters, they were a marketing machine, a legendary dynasty and living representatives of the ruling oligarchy/military class that dominated Brazil through most of the 20th Century.

As such, Rickson not only had to fight and represent the family against (almost) all comers, he had to win. EVERY TIME. The Gracies had an aggressive PR machine that claimed Rickson went 400-0 but this counted everything from jiu jitsu competition, to wrestling matches to Sambo tournaments. Unless he lost (which he reportedly did at one Sambo match) in which case they didn't count it.

I've written before about their arch enemies, the Luta Livre, no gi-grapplers and generally more working class fighters. Brazilians had been putting on proto-MMA fights in boxing/wrestling rings since at least the 1910s. Itinerant Japanese judoka and pro-wrestler Mitsuyo Maeda had fought his way from Seattle to Brazil before he became the private teacher of the Gracie brothers, including Rickson's uncle Carlos and father Helio around 1917.

Luta livre was definitely the most persistent rival to jiu jitsu throughout the 20th century, if not always the most dangerous. Still they got their licks in, with the great Tatu beating George Gracie in the 1940s and Eugenio Tadeu beating some BJJ representatives in the 1980s. Rickson's assault on Hugo Duarte was part of that revived feud.

In the late 80's Hugo Duarte was considered the champion of Luta Livre, along with Marco Ruas and Eugenio Tadeau. When Rickson jumped him at the beach, it was the culmination of many challenges, counter-challenges and mutual duckings. Its hard to make out exactly what happens in the fight, but for at least a portion of it, Rickson has the larger Duarte mounted and at one point applies a gift wrap and punches him in the face. It wasn't necessarily a clear or fair victory, but it gave the Gracies bragging rights and that's what really mattered at the time in Brazil.

One could make a case that Rickson's two fights against the huge brawler Rei Zulu were more historically important. These happened in the mid-1980s and were televised. Zulu was a formidable fighter, but basically untrained in any discipline and he'll tell you to this day that Rickson insisted on a number of rules for their matches that made it harder for him to win. I don't know about that.

Regardless, Rickson's many fights and inevitable victories helped lay the groundwork for MMA's explosion in the U.S. and Japan in the 1990s. Rickson would personally lead the charge in Japan, but I've written about that before.

UPDATE: I really meant to discuss Rickson the fighter and how he compares to today's athletes. First off, there's really no way to compare across eras. All we know is Rickson made a pretty strong case to being hands down the best Brazilian NHB (no holds barred) fighter of the 1980s and early 1990s. There is some controversy about that, but I think its fair to say no one made a competing case that's nearly as strong.

As far as his abilities and style, Rickson was similar to his younger brothers Royce and Royler in his primitive standup game. But there there similarities end. Where his brothers used their lanky frames to primarily fight from the guard, Rickson tended to be at his best in top position. And because he was much stronger and more athletic than his brothers, he often was in top position. From there his ground and pound was really devastating for his era. He especially loved to get the mount and use a gift wrap hold (wrapping his opponent's right arm around their own neck and holding it) with his left hand leaving his right hand free to batter their unprotected face.

Sadly Rickson never fought Marco Ruas, Ken Shamrock, Bas Rutten or Kazushi Sakuraba, his contemporaries who probably would have posed the greatest threats to him. His fights in Japan are less satisfying than Royce's UFC run because none of them really tested Rickson. The same can't be said for his bouts with Zulu. If you have the patience to watch those videos, you can tell that was a real back and forth war.

All in all, Rickson has earned his place in the history of MMA. He's probably the central figure in the transition from Brazilian NHB to modern MMA.

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Now there's no such thing as yet, but between the ongoing speculation about who will be the next two fighters in the UFC Hall of Fame and Spike TV's online ballot for the Ultimate 100 UFC fights we can get a pretty clear view of how Zuffa views their history.

Personally I understand why Tito Ortiz and Frank Shamrock have less than zero chance of being recognized but I really hate it.

Both men have certainly earned their share of detractors but I think the case they made inside the cage is hard to argue with. Both Frank and Tito won five straight title fights and were the only stars the UFC had in a very very dark period.

Not to mention that Shamrock's title run basically swept his division clean of top opponents back-to-back-to-back and featured decisive wins in every possible fashion -- armbar, KO by slam, kneebar, and two beatdowns that made the other guy tap.

Plus Tito was the first fighter to really show what cutting weight can do and his wins over Jerry Bohlander, Guy Mezger and loss to Frank (in a fight that made it clear Tito would likely win any rematch) virtually ran the Lion's Den out of the UFC. Not to mention his dominant win over Wanderlei Silva that gave the UFC bragging rights over PRIDE for several years.

Now as far as the Ultimate 100 ballot, it really is telling as to how Zuffa sees the history of the UFC. Richard has compiled a list of all the fights nominated and its in the full entry. He's also got a list of the 39 most nominated fighters.

I haven't had time to do a complete analysis, but its pretty telling that Jonathan Goulet is featured in 3 fights on the list and former champions Frank Shamrock and Maurice Smith clock in for a combined 0.

Early champs Don Frye and Mark Coleman get short-shrift as well with a combined two fights.

I'm sorry, but any one who was paying attention knows that Frank Shamrock's defeat of Tito Ortiz at UFC 22 was one of the all-time greatest fights in UFC history. Not only did it pit a four-time champion defending his belt against the absolute no doubt #1 contender, it was also the rare match where the challenger was the favorite. Bigger, stronger, seemingly unstoppable, Tito was coming into the fight having utterly demolished two of Frank Shamrock's former Lion's Den teammates. Frank had to use stamina, excellent defense and guile to survive long enough to batter out an exhausted Tito in the fourth round.

And don't get me started on Maurice Smith vs Mark Coleman at UFC 14. The first time a kickboxer learned enough ground defense to survive a groundNpound assault, get back to his feet and win the fight. Read my full write up on that fight here: Coleman Gets His Kicks.

There's also no Mark Coleman vs Don Frye from UFC 10, possibly the most brutal passing of the torch from one champ to another ever in MMA. Nor does Don Frye's war with Gary Goodridge at UFC 8 make the list. Nor Royce Gracie's comeback win against Dan Severn at UFC 4. And so on and so forth.

Clearly the UFC has its own official history and that's fine, its just not very accurate or true to the sport.

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The Garv posted an interview with one of the old school legends a couple of days back and I was too demented busy to post about it but didn't want to let it pass unremarked. Igor Vovchanchyn was the most feared striker of the late 1990s era of MMA.

Here's an interesting nugget for those who are unfamiliar with Igor V.:

Michael Mazur: What victory was the most valueable for you personally?
Igor Vovchanchyn: I guess it was my first Kiev tournament “Diamond night” I mentioned previously. To tell you the truth even I was pretty shocked by that event. Further on, both fights against Mark Kerr who was an animal and in his prime back then - these were some of the more memorable wars for me.

...
Michael Mazur: Who was your most difficult opponent?
Igor Vovchanchyn: Regarding the bouts I won - the hardest one was, no, were both fights against Mark Kerr. Concering the bouts I lost - it’s got to be Mark Coleman. I believe lack of preparation played its role. Watching the tape afterwrds, you know, I spot lots of my own mistakes. Preparing for the upcoming fight and implementing all the things you had up your sleeve doesn’t work as planned. Also the Heath Herring fight - it was pretty close.

To give you a little context, Vovchanchyn won more single night eight man tournaments than any other MMA fighter ever. The Diamond Night tournament was just one of many for him.

And the bouts he's referring to were classic stylistic clashes between Igor -- a puffed up light heavyweight with a huge right hand, dangerous knees who once even won a fight with headbutts from his back -- and two of the biggest, scariest wrestlers of his day in the Marks Kerr and Coleman.

Next he talks a little bit about his impact on one of the fighter's of today:

Michael Mazur: Do you agree with the statement that Fedor copied your style of punching? What potential fights have never taken place and why?
Igor Vovchanchyn: That’s true but only to some extent. More people were trying to imitate it, including japanese. They called it “Igor Vovchanchyn” punching. I can remember myself entering a gym there and seeing everyone practicing my style of punching.

I encourage you to read up on The Reign of the Wrestlers and Strikers Attack from my MMA History series to see Igor and Kerr in action at their peaks.

As far as Fedor modeling his striking on Igor's, its entirely possible and I do see some similarities in the looping hooks overhands thrown with the thumb pointing down.

We've been trying to keep up with Yahoo's excellent historical series on UFC 1 to 100. But over the weekend we got distracted with UFC 97 coverage and this one almost slipped past. But it ain't happening. UFC 16 was the first of two UFC's I saw live in Kenner, Louisiana (just outside New Orleans) and I'm not going to let it go by unremarked.

Dave Meltzer does the Yahoo write up:

An overflow crowd of 4,600 fans packed an arena with a capacity of 4,300, sold out days in advance, and was the most enthusiastic in company history. UFC 16 was probably the first time UFC drew a crowd that was there to see what UFC the sport had evolved into, as opposed to the earlier crowds who went based on the fantasy of what an anything-goes fight would look like.

The show was built around Frank Shamrock, who had become the UFC’s first under-200 pound champion, which was at the time called middleweight but morphed into the current light heavyweight division, by beating 1992 Olympic wrestling gold medalist Kevin Jackson in 14 seconds with an armbar, on December 21, 1997, in Yokohama, Japan. Shamrock made his first title defense in what was billed as a unification match with Extreme Fighting champion Igor Zinoviev, an unbeaten Russian kickboxer and sambo specialist.

Semaphore Entertainment marketed the show, and the promotion around the 25-year-old Shamrock in all television ads, trying to make him the new face of the promotion. Shamrock came through, taking Zinoviev off his feet with a high double-leg takedown, and slammed him down so hard Zinoviev was knocked out cold in only 23 seconds. Zinoviev became the first fighter ever leaving the cage on a stretcher after four years, suffering a broken clavicle and a fractured C-5 vertebrae.

Its easy for newer fans to sleep on just how great Frank Shamrock was at his peak. There are several reasons for this:

1. He fought at the beginning of the dark ages of the UFC. They were still on PPV but just barely. So many fewer people saw Frank's glory days than saw the Royce Gracie/Ken Shamrock era or even the Don Frye/Mark Coleman period.
   
2. His biggest fights have never been released on DVD in the states (track down the Australian versions on EBay).
   
3. He walked away from the sport at his physical peak (age 28) and barely fought for the next ten years. He almost signed with PRIDE but never stepped in the ring there.
   
4. Many casual fans confuse him with his adopted brother Ken Shamrock.
5. Most of his biggest wins were over fighters who either never lived up to their potential (Olympic gold medalist Kevin Jackson), retired after losing to Frank (Igor Zinoviev) or went on to suffer long declines that make them seem less impressive in retrospect (Enson Inoue, John Lober).
6. Finally, his feud with Zuffa has caused them to write him out of the official history of the UFC. Don't hold your breath waiting for Frank to be inducted in the UFC Hall of Fame although no fighter deserves it more.

Coming in to this event, no one expected Frank to take out Igor Zinoviev quickly. Igor had been the first to beat a top BJJ black belt in a major event in the states (Mario Sperry). Igor had DESTROYED Enson Inoue -- a fighter who had just given Frank the fight of his life. And Igor had gone to a hard fought draw against John Lober -- whose win over Frank had yet to be avenged.

And yet Frank saw something the commenters didn't. Igor Z. had a terrible habit of responding to a shoot by grabbing a headlock and curling around his opponent's body. Frank had clearly been watching for that because his slam was the perfect way to solve the otherwise very difficult Igor Zinoviev problem.

It wasn't just the Frank Shamrock show either, the card was stacked with great GREAT fights:

The show also featured three of the best matches in company history, a brutal slugfest where Mikey Burnett put away Brazilian Eugenio Tadeu in a match that featured exchanges of some of the hardest punches ever in the octagon. In a battle of former tournament winners at under-200, Jerry Bohlander beat Jackson with an armbar, although ref John McCarthy stopped it before Jackson tapped, resulting in a furious Jackson storming out of the cage. The other saw the debut of Japanese pro wrestling star Tsuyoshi Kosaka, who scored a unanimous decision over Kimo.

I highly recommend getting your hands on a copy of UFC 16. Just fast forward through the uber-boring Pat Militech stalling his way to the first 170lb title and you're in for a great night of fights.

Gif by Chris Nelson from UFC 16.

Dave Meltzer's report on UFC 12 from Yahoo's continuing history of the UFC series covers a dark period on the sport's history:

But the real story took place in the days leading to the show. The New York Times ran several days' worth of stories that turned the political tide against the event, decrying the sport, then known as no holds barred (the term mixed martial arts, created in Japan by pro wrestling promoters was not yet being used), or NHB for short.

The state assembly in New York, which had just voted to legalize the sport, after the articles blasting the legislature for doing so, voted 134-1 to reverse their tracks. The state senate drafted their own bill, which wasn't to ban the sport, but to allow local politicians the right to ban it within their jurisdiction. The senate voted 33-0 to pass the bill, which Gov. George Pataki vowed to sign. Since it was still legal that week, a few days before the event, the New York State Athletic Commission hastily created a 114-page rule book, completely changing the event.

Among the rules put in place were no submissions or ground work, and fighters would have to wear amateur boxing headgear.

Note how the NY state legislature was moving in the right direction until the NY Times decided to launch a crusade. That is what we call the power of the press. And it's why MMA fans need to take the corporate media seriously when they turn their attention to the sport.

The bad old days may seem like a distant memory, but the tides could easily turn again. Remember it was a media crusade in Japan that brought down PRIDE.