Who was the first major well rounded mma fighter that you can think of ?

Well ?

 

Fedor.

I've said it numerous times before, but his success was because he was ahead of the curve when it came to be relatively solid at all aspects of MMA.

I think wrestling is where he lagged behind. But his judo and amazing hips typically allowed him to get the best of wrestlers.

Beyond Fedor, I would say BJ Penn is another guy that impressed me early on with his competency in all aspects of MMA.

This is a cool question. With the guys on here we should get some good answers.

 

Bas Rutten- after losing a couple of his first few fights to submission, he dedicated a lot if work to the ground game then ended his career with a great, balanced streak.

Frank Shamrock

 

Good ones. Rutten did end up being well-rounded.

Shamrock was a miss by me. I think his striking was better toward the end of his career when his knees really hindered his wrestling. If he had the same knees now, he could still be fighting.

 

Bas and Frank Shamrock.

 

:dunno:

 

Vitor as well when he first hit the MMA scene.

 

Frank Shamrock was so far ahead of the curve that a prime Frank would have good success in todays sport.Carlos Newton and BJ Penn both had well rounded skills when they were young....

 

Patrick Smith was the first striker I saw that seemed to care about cross training. He won a couple of fights on the ground.

 

Patrick Smith.

 

Nice! Andrew is back in the cage! :hammert:

 

Well done. Pat Smith was the shit! If you never watch cagefighting, how would u know that name?

 

Pat Smith was cross training like a motherfucker!

 

I have been very open about my knowledge of cage fighting and it's history. I just think it's become very gay. I liked it when it was a joke. Too serious now.

 

I know the dude worked his ground game like a madman.

Good one.

Odd that SD would be the guy trying to get the thread back to MMA.

Thanks bro.

 

Marco Ruas and the Shamrock were some of the first that imo, were proficient in every aspect of the game.

 

Ruas could be the winner. He was definitely one of the first guys to fight using wrestling, striking and subs.

This forum is great. You guys don't miss a trick.

 

I got to meet Ruas at the last Affliction (RIP) event where he was cornering Pedro Rizzo. The strangest thing was that he could walk around in total anonymity because nobody knew who he was! The dude is still monster like (albeit with a touch of grey hair now), hes my size which isnt small. He also has an Adrian Peterson-like handshake that almost made me tap..... Ruas is a fucking legend!!!!!

im glad people still remember him

 

No worries.

Ken Shamrock made Pat tap in front of his hometown crowd at UFC 1. By the time UFC II rolled around, Pat was choking dudes out.

I'm a huge Pat Smith fan. The guy brought it. Never really liked Ruas, found his fights a tad boring.

 

Told you I would go GF. Shit like that just cant go unpunished. One bad apple can spoil the whole basket. This shit just isn't fun anymore. Have fun guys.

 

I've also always liked Pat Smith since the early, early UFC days :bears:

When I think of Pat Smith, the first thing I think of is elbows.

 

It wasn't much, but Maurice Smith had at least enough of a ground game to survive back when he won the title.


And Don Frye, a very capable striker with a Judo base.

 

Same. Very aggressive guy.

Pat Smith. :bears:

 

Yeah, that's fair.

 

Serious?

 

He is one of a handful of true pioneers in the sport. Your lucky to have gotten to meet him.

 

randy couture

 

no way, at first, Randy was basically only a wrestler. Sure, he beat Belfort with strikes but only because Belfort basically unravalled because he couldn't ko him. His fight with Maurice Smith was the definition of lay and pray, and it was basically this fight wich made me stop watching MMA for long time.

 

Speaking of Belfort, he was one of the first MMA fighter who looked like a modern guy. Technically, I don't see much improvement in his game since his early days, save for pacing himself better and being more composed