the best fighter of the century

[jeronimo]

I read this answer somewhere. More for his contirbution to the development of martial arts in Western countries and for his advanced vision of including in his own style the best techniques of each other styles. A kind of precursor of mixed martial arts. As a fighter anyway, he was limitated by his size and weight. But I have to admit that his speed was fabulous.

[Guest]

You could argue that Bruce Lee did more harm than good in the Martial Arts. Ok, he did help open it to the masses but at what cost?

After the Kung Fu craze of the 70s the Martial Arts were filled with under trained and over rated "experts". So many of these experts have been absolutely trashed in real fights (often with brawlers) that the whole image of the arts suffered.

Also he promoted the myth that one man could defeat dozens of others. Not true, of course, so again the arts coudln't live up to the reputation given to them by Bruce Lee.

How many 10 year old Karate and Kung Fu Black Belts does it take to make the public laugh openly about hte effectivemess of the martial arts?

Thai and Kick Boxing brought things back on track a little, and things are much better now with MMA.

Thanks Bruce, but no thanks!

[HardcoreJJ]

Helio Gracie

Helio Gracie, without a doubt, there is no other comparision, he is the man....
I agree about bruce...but you can't blame him- remember, it was his dedication that made him the best. One could only assume how awesome he would have been had he been exposed to bjj at the age of 5...my guess from hearing how fanatical and naturally great athlete he was, he would have been awesome

[jeronimo]

After asking the same question on a couple of other forums, the names who come the more often are whose of martial art masters :
- Morihei Ueshiba
- Mas Oyama
- and Helio Gracie

Some champions also receive some votes :
- Rickson Gracie
- Royce Gracie
- Frank Dux
- Mohamed Ali
- Joe Louis
- Alexander Karelin
- Masahiko Kimura
- Kazushi Sakuraba
...
but are far behind the three masters I mentioned above.

Thanks for all your answers and comments !
Jérôme

[likuid]

i wouldn't know, outside of boxing I can only name a handful of fighter pre-1990's. "Dearest member of this forum", pah-lease, you're making me blush.

[JKD_Jay]

Rickson. Maybe Sakuraba. Honorable mention tp Maurice Smith (titles in K-!, muay Thai, and the UFC). Lennox Lewis? Come on. That's like saying the Buc's are the best pro team in Tampa- they're bad, but at least they're better than the D-rays and the Lighning....

[jeronimo]

Sakuraba beat 4 Gracie ! He deserved a fight against the best of all : Rickson. Sorry that Rickson avoided this match. He should have nonestly said that he was too old instead of waiting a loss of Sakuraba.
Even beaten by Vanderlei Silva, Sakuraba is still a very dangerous opponent, especially in his weight division.
Wallid Ismaël beat 3 Gracie too.
He is not so famous in Vale Tudo because he do not choose opponent but he is tough. "Big balls" ...

Maurice Smith never won the K1. He was world champion of kick-boxing (28 wins in world championships !!! ... more than Joe Louis in english boxing) during the 80's. He had lost his title against Peter Aerts when he was competing in K1-Grand Prix in 1993.
But this fighters, famous in his style deserves respect because he accepted to start from nothing in NHB. And he had some important wins, we could say amongst the firsts of strikers against grapplers.
Now Chute Boxe continues on his way.
As Ruas Vale Tudo fighters do. But these are more cross-trained than those of Chute Boxe who are advertising more their appartenance to muay taï origin

[CHOKE UK]

BEST FIGHTER..........

IT IS ALWAYS A MATTER OF OPINION.
But Rickson Gracie's record speaks for itself !
Over 400 victiries and never defeated !
Ali,Tyson,Marcianno etc, their records all put togeather are nowhere near as impressive.
And they all competed at boxing, which is a "sport" NOT "no-holds-barred" which is immeasureably tougher!
And whats wrong with the fact that Rickson may be taking it a bit easier, he is over the age of 40 !
Anyone who has won that many fights has nothing to prove anymore, and it would take it out of anybody who has has so many nhb fights.
Tell me who has a better record in NHB, certainly not Bruce Lee !!!
Where others can only speculate, Rickson has proved, and that can never be taken away from him !
As you can tell, i am one of his fans !

[jeronimo]

I think that his record is still criticized by some people because part of the fights are extra-sportive fights. Without witness or against "low" opposition (difficult to evaluate the level of the opponent). Mark Kerr itself said that if he included the fights outside from the mat and sportive events, he would have more than 1,000 wins.
I don't know.
But Rickson has got a tremendous record. That's right. He is anyway supposed to haev lost a sambo fight against the american ... I read it on the Underground Forum two years ago :
<>

If it is the only loss in all his life as a competitor, that is "not so bad" ! I agree !

Even at the age of 40 and weighting "only" 84 kg, he is still considered as one of the best in open weight division. That means a lot.