Another article that is misinformed and talks about why MMA is so brutal. I think the two guys that wrote this are hardcore religious freaks or they are just idiots.

Here is the article:

In a time where sports fans appear to watch sporting events for shock value more than for the competition between two people or two teams, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), is a sports cancer that makes a mockery of athletics across all boundaries.

Advertisement



No question, the athletes are - usually - in very good shape; they are extremely dedicated and love what they do.

However, when the goal in a sporting event is to concuss the other athlete and beat him within an inch of becoming a vegetable, there has to be a line drawn, wouldn't you say?

Some may read this and bring up sports like Greco-Roman wrestling and boxing.

Greco-Roman wrestling, for one, is about strength and submissions; it rarely has major injuries or even blood spilled on the canvas.

Boxing, for all its inherent flaws and undeniable corruption, is not as barbaric as MMA; the refereeing is not as lenient as MMA.

A boxing match is much more regimented and fair.

No one can tell me that it is a fair fight when one person is on top of another driving their opponent's head into the ground; it makes waiting for the referee to call one of these fights painful to watch.

Also, how long is the staying power for each of these fighters; I'm hard-pressed to name five fighters, and have watched upwards of 20 bouts over the past couple of years.

Kimbo Slice, only because he has garnered fame from his street fighting days and the MMA world is carting him around like Lobster Man in a circus freak show, Ken Shamrock, because of his days in WWE, and Shamrock's brother, Frank, are the names with some staying power.

This 'sport' is supposed to be immensely popular, but where are all of the stars?

Boxing has had numerous stars over the years; what is MMA's excuse?

Perhaps it might be the 'flavor of the week' nature of the sport; someone wins a couple pay-per-view bouts and starts to get name recognition, then gets their clock cleaned as people lose interest, moving on to the next poor soul who will have their 15 minutes of fame destroyed by a bad loss, bad injury or both.

This disgust for MMA is not coming from a prudish sports fan; but as a passionate football fan and a rugby player. Physical contact is not something to be afraid of in sport.

No, the problem comes about when the physical aspect of the game becomes the objective.

In football and rugby, the physicality is a by-product of the main goal: to outscore the opponents by getting the ball across the goal line or tryline, respectively.

Of course, injuries happen in these sports and people are often seriously hurt, but that can happen in most any sport, whether contact-related or not.

Even hockey, a 'violent' mainstream sport has an element of injury lurking during each shift, and while there are still trouble-makers that are involved in some instances, the physicality only supports the outcome of the game.

Hockey, like football and rugby, when you get right down to it, is about outclassing your opponent throughout the course of the game; there are regimented rules of what one can and cannot do, and when people break those rules, they are disciplined.

Where will the disciplinary action come from in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, International Fight League, or other like-minded organizations should someone die?

I'm not convinced it will be satisfactory, are you?

MMA is a very complex sport at its core, especially since so many fighting styles are thrown together to make one large-scale fighting event, but the problem is that these fighting styles, when mixed together, make the sport a frightening, unstable concoction that could explode at any time.

I don't think that MMA is salvageable when it comes to this problem; there are no rules specific enough to limit the injuries and irreparable damage that the fighters absorb, and it doesn't look like anything will happen too soon.

Perhaps we'll be left to hope that blood-lusting fans will wake up from their desensitized, violence-craving stupor and realize what MMA really is: A dangerous joke of a competition that will just get more barbaric the longer people decide to keep tuning in.

Another person that is misinformed takes their crack on telling us why MMA is so brutal and terrible. This article is absolute abomination.

I have to say that I was thoroughly disappointed by the sportsmuffin's list especially when Joe Rogan was put just outside of the Top Ten. Rogan has done nothing to prove his worth inside the ring. He is a great announcer, who does train, but who has he faced to legitimize himself. This list is thorough and has explanations on why the fighters are ranked where they are.

This is the fifth in my installment of the Top 33 MMA fighters of all time. I have finally reached the Top Ten and this is where the controversy begins.

In parts one through four I ranked the fighters in the following order:

#32 Don Frye, #31 Pat Miletich, #30 Mark Kerr, #29 Igor Vovchanchyn, #28 Josh Barnett, #27 Sean Sherk, #26 Tim Sylvia, #25 Dan Henderson, #24 Ken Shamrock, #23 Tito Ortiz, #22 Frank Shamrock, #21 Uriaj Faber, #20 Cro Cop, #19 Sakuraba, #18 Matt Hughes, #17 Lyoto Machida, #16 Wanderlei Silva, #15 Mauricio Rua, #14Rickson Gracie, #13 Dan Severn, #12 Takanori Gomi and #11 Bas Rutten.

#10 Mark 'The Hammer' Coleman(6'1 245 pounds)

Do not let his record fool you (15-8) because Coleman has always been known to fight against the best fighters in the world. He has notable wins over Don Frye (2 times), Gary Goodridge, Dan Severn, Igor Vovchanychn and Mauricio Rua. His losses have all come against, arguably the top fighters of all time (Fedor Emelianenko, Mirko Cro Cop, Antonio Nogueira). Coleman did have a brief period where he suffered a four fight losing streak against some fighters he should have won against (Takada, Pete Williams, Maurice Smith and Pedro Rizzo). By the way Coleman is a UFC Hall of Famer.

Coleman was due to fight Brock Lesnar in Minnesota at UFC 87, but had to pull out of the event due to a knee injury. The 43 year old can still fight, but the question remains for how much longer.



#9 B.J. 'The Prodigy' Penn (5'9 155 pounds)

Th 29 year old Penn is the current UFC Lightweight Champion. He has noteworthy wins over Renzo Gracie, Matt Hughes, Sean Sherk, Jens Pulver and Matt Serra. His overall record of 14-4-1. He is known for his Brazilian Jiu Jitsu skills.

Penn recently defeated Sean Sherk at UFC 84 and it is rumored that he will have a rematch against Georges St. Pierre sometime later this year.



#8 Randy 'The Natural' Couture (6'1 225)

The 45 year old Couture is a UFC Hall of Famer with a 16-8 overall record. Surprisingly, Couture still is near the top of his game.

He has notable wins over Jeremy Horn, Chuck Lidell, Kevin Randleman, Vitor Belfort, Tim Sylvia and Tito Ortiz. He operates an elite training facility for fighters called Xtreme Couture. He has held the UFC light heavyweight and heavyweight titles.

A lesser known fact about Couture is that his wife, Kim, lost in her mma debut against Kim Rose in Las Vegas this past weekend. The event was the first ever combined mma/boxing event.

As for her husband, Randy, who knows when he will fight again. Couture is supposedly starring in the Scorpion King 2, which will bypass theaters and go straight to DVD.



#7 Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson (6'1 205 pounds)

The 30 year old Jackson (28-6) exudes confidence inside and outside the ring. He made a name for himself in Pride, although he never was able to become the top dog in their light heavyweight division. Jackson, actually lost 5 times during his career in Pride. Surprisingly he has made a smooth transition into the Octagon becoming the UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. Jackson has one of the most memorable knockouts in mma history, which occurred when he slammed Ricardo Arona to the ground

Two years ago, Jackson probably would not have even have cracked a Top 25 list now he is in the Top Ten.

Jackson had been vying to play Mr. T in the A-Team movie but the rumor is the role could be going to ICE Cube, which is a terrible choice in my opinion.

Jackson will be fighting Forrest Griffin at UFC 86.



#6 Georges St. Pierre (5'10 169 pounds)

The 27 year old St. Pierre has compiled a 16-2 record. He has noteworthy wins over Matt Hughes, BJ Penn and Sean Sherk

St. Pierre is the current UFC welterweight champion and is scheduled to fight Jon Fitch at UFC 87.

This is part four in the six part installment. I have posted the other three installments on yardbarker as well.

#15 Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua (6'0 201 pounds)

The 26 year old Rua has 16-3 record with noteworthy wins over Quinton Jackson, Ricardo Arona, Kevin Randleman and Allstair Overeem.

He recently lost to Forrest Griffin.

Shogun dominated the light heavyweight division in Pride but suffered a setback when he recently lost to Forrest Griffin. A win against Griffin would have setup a rematch between Rua and Jackson.

Rua was supposed to fight Chuck Lidell in June, but is recovering from a knee injury. The fact that Rua is young (he will not be 27 until November) and his dominant striking skills (13 TKO's) make him a likely candidate to crack the top ten soon. The one question that remains may be how he fair's in the UFC's Light Heavyweight division, which is arguably the toughest division in all of MMA.

#14 Rickson Gracie (5'10 185 pounds)

Gracie's professional record is listed at 11-0. He is a legend in MMA circles and a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu champion. Rickson is tough to rank because of his limited mma record, which spans nearly twenty years.



There was a rumor over two years ago that Rickson may come out of his mma retirement and fight in December of 2006. This never materialized and it looks like the 50 year old Gracie is officially retired from mma competition.

#13 Dan 'The Beast" Severn (6'2 250 pounds )

Severn has compiled a 86-15-7 record during a long and illustrious career. Severn's reputation does suffer, though, from not knowing when to call it quits. Severn still fights, despite being 50 years old.

He fought recently against Pavel Botka on May 3rd 2008, losing via decision.

His reputation also suffers from his lack of fighting against top tier competition. Severn is a UFC Hall of Famer who defeated Ken Shamrock when Shamrock was in his prime and won by decision against a young Forrest Griffin.

Severn is a substitute teacher and runs mixed martial arts classes in the Michigan area.



#12 Takanori Gomi (5'8 154 pounds)

Gomi suffers from not being a household name in the United States as he has spent most of his career fighting in Japan. He has compiled an impressive 28-3 record. The 29 year old has noteworthy wins over Jens Pulver, Duane Ludwig and Marcus Auriello.

Gomi is scheduled to fight in the Sengoku 4 event in Japan in August.

#11 Bas 'El Guapo' Rutten (6'1 205 pounds)

Rutten is probably known more for his work in the broadcast booth because injuries cut short a promising MMA career which he compiled a 28-4 record

Rutten has noteworthy wins over Kevin Randleman and Frank Shamrock.

Rutten took a nearly ten year layoff before he defeated Ruben Villareal in 2006. The 43 year old has since gone back into retirement.

#26 Tim 'The Maine-iac' Sylvia (6'8 260 pounds)

the 32 year-old Sylvia is the former UFC heavyweight champion. He has compiled a 24-4 record. He has noteworthy wins over Andre Arlovski, Ben Rothwell and Brandon Vera. All 4 of his losses have come against top tier opponents ( Frank Mir, Randy Couture, Andre Arlovski, and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira).

Sylvia recently signed with Affliction and will be fighting Fedor Emelianenko on July 19th. A win over Emelianenko could vault Sylvia into my top 20.

#25 Dan 'Hollywood' Henderson (6'1 183 pounds)

The 37 yeard-old former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion has compiled a 22-7 record. He has lost his last two fights to Anderson Silva and Quinton Jackson. He has noteworthy wins over Wanderlei Silva, Vitor Belfort, Renzo Gracie and Murilo Rua.

Henderson is still signed with the UFC, but at this time he does not have an opponent scheduled for his next fight.

#24 Ken 'The World's Most Dangerous Man' Shamrock (6'1 235 pounds)

The 44 year-old Shamrock would be ranked higher if he had decided to retire six years ago when he lost for the first time versus Tito Ortiz, but he kept fighting. Shamrock is a big name in this sport, but he is typically over hyped in rankings because he has fought since the 1st UFC event.



Shamrock recently lost to Robert Berry at Cage Rage 25, it was his 5th consecutive loss.



#23 Tito Ortiz 'Huntington Beach Bad Boy' (6'2 205 pounds)

The 33 year old Ortiz is the former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. He has a record of 15-6 overall. He has noteworthy wins over Forrest Griffin and Ken Shamrock. Ortiz lost his last fight to Machida and he is currently a free agent.

Ortiz had a falling out with UFC president Dana White during the last couple years of his contract.

Affliction or Elite XC are likely to sign Ortiz in the coming weeks.

#22 Frank Shamrock (5'10 185 pounds)

The younger brother of Ken Shamrock has had a long and illustrious MMA career. He has been the King of Pancraese, UFC Middleweight Champion and the UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. He has noteworthy wins over Bas Rutten, Tito Ortiz and Jeremy Horn. He currently has a 22-9 MMA record.

Shamrock, who is 35 years old, broke his arm against Cung Lee in March. He recently was one of the broadcasters for CBS at the Elite XC Primetime event. When Shamrock returns to Strikeforce a potential opponent for him could be Cung Lee.

# 21 Uriaj Faber (5'6 140 pounds)

Faber is finally becoming a household name. He has compiled a 20-1 record with his lone loss coming to Tyson Griffin. The reason why he is not more known is because he fights in a lower weight class and he fights in a smaller mma orgainization the WEC

Faber recently defeated Jens Pulver on June 1st.

I am very excited about Part 3 because it includes three of my favorites of all-time (Cro Cop, Sakuraba and Wanderlei Silva).

The rankings so far have been: #33 Shinya Aoki, #32 Don Frye, #31 Pat Miletich, #30 Mark Kerr, #29 Igor Vovchanchyn, #28 Josh Barnett, #27 Sean Sherk, #26 Tim Sylvia, #25 Dan Henderson, #24 Ken Shamrock, #23 Tito Ortiz, #22 Frank Shamrock and #21 Uriaj Faber.

One may wonder why I made a list of thirty-three fighters and not the top ten or twenty five? The reason for this is that I wanted to make the list inclusive as possible and eventually I had to end somewhere. Hopefully, when I have more time allocated for research, I can expand the list to the Top 50 or maybe even the Top 100.

I have come to the conclusion that some fighters are usually ranked higher then I may have ranked them (i.e. Mark Coleman, Randy Couture) due to their iconic status, but I tried to look at their overall body of work (i.e. opponents faced) and not just their name recognition.

Rickson Gracie was difficult to rank because of his limited body of work, which consists of 11 total mma fights. Other problems I ran into are in regard to the evolution of mixed martial arts (rule changes and added weight classes). How would Royce Gracie in his prime matchup against fighters soley in his weight class?

Max Scherzer was supposed to help everyone's fantasy baseball team. Mismanagement by Bob Melvin cost us many fantasy owners an arm that just sat on our benches.

Barry Zito is terrible and he should just donate his salary to the War on Terror, it will be better spent there.