Let's say you want to make someone unfamiliar with UFC — or MMA in general — dig the sport. If you want to show them a UFC fight, what's the best choice.
The fight should have all these elements:
- It should not be too long, unless the action throughout is top-notch.
- Have good striking exchanges, with both fighters scoring on punches, kicks, knees, elbows.
- Prefereably some unusual stuff, too, like a spinning kick or backfist.
- Have some good, uptempo grappling sequences and reversals.
- A strong takedown or two. A full-on slam would be nice.
- Should probably end with a submission, since submissions are unique to MMA.
- Should be between fighters of contrasting styles. Guys a non-fan can get interested in.
What are your picks? Which ones have you had success with?
I would show them maybe lil Nogueira vs. Shogun.. Although that goes to a decision, maybe Shogun vs. Rampage showcasing the knees.
A potential fan would probably prefer a KO than a submission.
EDIT: I have only managed to get one person into MMA and i used Mirko Cro Cop highlight videos to do it.. So Mirko became his favourite, this week he was going to be fighting Gonzaga so i got him all excited then that happened...
He was open mouthed even though that was his first event.
That old ass one where the black guy ties the other guy up in a crucifix and throws 20 elbows to his head making it look like he's killed him. sorry totally forgot the names of the fighters.. but that'd be funny as hell to show someone who's never watched ufc before.
Some personal favorites, also based on your criteria, have already been mentioned above:
-Frankie Edgar vs Tyson Griffin
-GSP vs Hughes II
-Trigg vs Hughes II
why is that funny? an absolute knock down drag out barnburner. isn't that what we all want out of a fight? It may not be two vets but it is one of the best mma fights I have ever seen and I've been watching since ufc 1. Let's all just admit we like a slugfest and quit trying to say that we are all so technically savvy that we want to see a long slow grappling chess match, shall we???
Bad fight to show a potential fan. It goes 25 minutes, and the action isn't exactly exciting to someone who doesn't really know what's going on. I liked the fight a lot, but someone new to MMA would be like, "Man, this is boring."
i think that fight is a perfect example of what mma is all about. they trade shots, they grapple, theres a few takedowns, submission attempts ground n pound.. it has everything that mma is about in one action packed fight. showing them a brawl ending with a ko is only showing a small part of mma. if they can't appreciate an active exciting ground game, then they should just watch k-1 or something :dunno:.
Wanderlei/Chuck
Anderson Silva/Rich Franklin 2
Paul Taylor/Marcus Davis
Andrei Arlovski/Tim Sylvia
Andrei Arlovski/Tim Sylvia 2
Forrest Griffin/Stephan Bonnar (the quintessential casual fan drawing fight)
Non-UFC:
Baroni/Shamrock
Cro Cop vs Vovchanchyn
Aleksander Emelianenko/Ricardo Morais
Fedor/Goodridge
Fedor/Randleman
Nick Diaz/Takanori Gomi
To a person who isnt big into MMA, anything dealing with hugging or take downs, submissions etc is going to look gay as hell. I would suggest a fight with a ton of striking, like forrest vs bonnar 1 or 2, shogun vs rampage, spencer vs stout 1 or 2.
i think that fight is a perfect example of what mma is all about. they trade shots, they grapple, theres a few takedowns, submission attempts ground n pound.. it has everything that mma is about in one action packed fight. showing them a brawl ending with a ko is only showing a small part of mma. if they can't appreciate an active exciting ground game, then they should just watch k-1 or something :dunno:.
Rampage vs Henderson is a fight that you should show them after they're really into it. Show them an exciting, short fight, and then they can work their way up to a 25 minute chess match.
At least it's better than the first one. Unless you are trying to showcase retardo reffing.
I'd recommend Nogueira Vs Kharitanov then Wanderlei Vs Yoshida. :thumbsup:
[EDIT] - UFCwise Rizzo vs Couture I or Rizzo Vs Barnett.
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