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Old School Match-Ups That Never Happened


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I often wonder about some old school (90's-00's) dream match ups that never happened. A couple that stick out to me are:

 

Igor Vovchanchyn vs Bas Rutten

Ken Shamrock vs Tank Abbott

Frank Shamrock vs Randy Couture

Chuck Liddell vs Dan Henderson

Shogun Rua vs Rich Franklin

 

Give your thoughts on these & put yours down too!

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Most of those are way old school. Thought this was going to be tycoon fighters haha.

 

Christian Slaughter vs Otso Jokinen, Don Marciano vs Golden Glory, Taj al Din vs Jeremy Tonal, Moses Diggs vs Snake The Pendelum

 

 

but to keep subject to OP... Gegard Mousasi vs Anderson Silva comes to mind, and one day Khabib vs Tony will be #1 on this list

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Most of those are way old school. Thought this was going to be tycoon fighters haha.

 

Christian Slaughter vs Otso Jokinen, Don Marciano vs Golden Glory, Taj al Din vs Jeremy Tonal, Moses Diggs vs Snake The Pendelum

 

 

but to keep subject to OP... Gegard Mousasi vs Anderson Silva comes to mind, and one day Khabib vs Tony will be #1 on this list

 

I can't really comment on the tycoon match-ups as that was either before my time playing or I just don't recognize the names.

 

Mousasi vs Anderson is a great one! Until I just looked at his record, I didn't realize how on fire Mousasi was outside of the UFC during Anderson's reign. As far as the match up goes that's a tough one to call imo.

 

I'm betting if Khabib vs Tony does happen it'll be someday when we no longer care lol

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Jon Jones vs Anderson Silva

GSP vs Anderson Silva

Bas Rutten vs Chuck Liddell

Fedor vs Randy

 

I think Jones would've handled Silva easily even in Silva's prime.

I also think GSP would've gotten the W over Silva but I think that would've been a very close fight.

Rutten was pretty much already done right as Liddell was starting his career so that match up would've never happened. Hypothetically, I think a green Chuck would've still gotten the W.

i think Fedor would've dominated Randy any day of the week.

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I think Jones would've handled Silva easily even in Silva's prime.

I also think GSP would've gotten the W over Silva but I think that would've been a very close fight.

Rutten was pretty much already done right as Liddell was starting his career so that match up would've never happened. Hypothetically, I think a green Chuck would've still gotten the W.

i think Fedor would've dominated Randy any day of the week.

 

Jones beats Silva 9/10 times.

 

GSP would of got fucked up by Silva imo. Even if he won, in Silva's prime I think that's unlikely, I think he would of looked like a loser even if from just taking elbows to top of head from Silva's guard. Only way GSP wins that fight is being a blanket for 5 rounds.

 

I don't think prime Chuck takes Rutten. I may be bias towards El Guapo, but I would have to go back and check out his fights to see if he ever showed a weakness to strikes or overhands. Rutten was crafty.

 

Yeah, Fedor mauls Randy.

 

 

Would of been cool to see Tatsuya Kawajiri and a lot of the PRIDE guys facing off more often vs UFC fighters.

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The forgotten PRIDE Lightweight Grand Prix - 2007

 

wsi-imageoptim-Pride2007GP3.jpg

 

It included Shinya Aoki, Marcos Aurelio, Luiz Azeredo, Satoru Kitaoka, Luiz Firmino, Takanori Gomi, Joachim Hansen, Mitsuhiro Ishida, Tatsuya Kawajiri, Gilbert Melendez, Hayato Sakurai and Matt Hughes. Would've been the best among the greatest tournaments of all time. Some of these match ups ended up happening down the line, but not like this where almost all of them were in their prime.

 

 

Another one would be

 

Foto-AlexandreLoureiro-Inovafoto008.0.jp

 

 

 

and although the original happened back in 2005, I feel like RIZIN should've kicked off with the rematch in 2015

 

fedor-cro-cop.jpg

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The forgotten PRIDE Lightweight Grand Prix - 2007

 

wsi-imageoptim-Pride2007GP3.jpg

 

It included Shinya Aoki, Marcos Aurelio, Luiz Azeredo, Satoru Kitaoka, Luiz Firmino, Takanori Gomi, Joachim Hansen, Mitsuhiro Ishida, Tatsuya Kawajiri, Gilbert Melendez, Hayato Sakurai and Matt Hughes. Would've been the best among the greatest tournaments of all time. Some of these match ups ended up happening down the line, but not like this where almost all of them were in their prime.

 

 

Another one would be

 

Foto-AlexandreLoureiro-Inovafoto008.0.jp

 

 

 

and although the original happened back in 2005, I feel like RIZIN should've kicked off with the rematch in 2015

 

fedor-cro-cop.jpg

 

Without a doubt that LW GP would've been legendary! Out of the line-up my pick would've been Shinya.

 

I feel like Pettis vs Aldo wouldn't have played out like most think it would've... :yawn:

 

As for the Fedor vs Cro Cop rematch, they were both in their prime & while it was an awesome fight, I didn't see the need for a rematch. The only thing about that one in particular I will say is that I believe Cro Cop was undefeated against opponents in rematches by the end of his career so that makes for an interesting statistic.

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Kazushi Sakuraba vs Rickson Gracie

 

Hmmm very versed in Sakuraba's fights but not so much with Rickson's so I couldn't give an opinion.

This could be my total lack of knowledge when it comes to Rickson but aside from Masakatsu Funaki & an undersized, blinded Yuki Nakai, who did he really beat? I know he was in his late 30's-early 40's by the mid-late 90's but their were more legit guys even then.

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Aoki gets killed by most of those guys imho.

 

Fedor beats Brock 9/10

Na, in his prime I would say 7/10 at best. If Big Foot can do it, Brock could. Probably look like Lesnar vs Mir 2. He was freakishly large and strong.

 

Carwin would of fucked Fedor up imo. Quite a few of the new age HW's I think would give him hell, even when he was juiced up in his prime.

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Carwin would of fucked Fedor up imo. Quite a few of the new age HW's I think would give him hell, even when he was juiced up in his prime.

 

That's one thing i'll definitely agree with you on. Carwin would've ate anything Fedor threw at him & I don't see grappling being an alternative route to victory either for Fedor

 

Looking at FightMatrix at the Top 10 HW's: Miocic, Cormier, Ngannou, Blaydes, Bader, Dos Santos, Rozenstruik, Overeem, & Volkov. I say prime Fedor beats, at the very least, half these guys.

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That's one thing i'll definitely agree with you on. Carwin would've ate anything Fedor threw at him & I don't see grappling being an alternative route to victory either for Fedor

 

Looking at FightMatrix at the Top 10 HW's: Miocic, Cormier, Ngannou, Blaydes, Bader, Dos Santos, Rozenstruik, Overeem, & Volkov. I say prime Fedor beats, at the very least, half these guys.

Idk. Volkov, Overoid, Bader, yeah. Idk about Blaydes or Rozen. Don't think he does so well vs everybody else barring a haymaker landing.

 

Ngannou is what Brett Rogers thought he was and that started off rough for Fedor. Like to think prime Fedor takes him down in time, but it is debatable. Fedor isn't a timeless fighter. The game evolved past him like all the other greats. Bigger, fast, stronger, and more technical.

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The ones i wanted and we never got (and realistically could of happened at some point).

 

Fedor vs Couture (I think Fedor would of won, Couture was already pretty old when this was being discussed).

GSP vs Anderson (Was discussed several times but GSP did not want to move up to MW, Anderson could not move down).

Igor Vovchanchyn vs Fedor (This could only really take place around 2002, Igor was already degrading and Fedor was just rising around this time).

Overeem vs Cain (Straight after the win over Brock, he was on fire at the time, it was at the time when testing was either not being done or was sketchy).

Chuck Liddell vs Dan Henderson (Not sure how this did not happen, i think when the chances were highest after the merger, both were in decline).

Bas vs any of the great HW. (Personally loved the dude and his style, ahead of his time, but almost all his fights were in Pancrase, he had some fights against the Shamrock brothers when they were both in their prime, but we did not get to see enough of the guy).

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Igor Vovchanchyn vs Fedor (This could only really take place around 2002, Igor was already degrading and Fedor was just rising around this time).

Overeem vs Cain (Straight after the win over Brock, he was on fire at the time, it was at the time when testing was either not being done or was sketchy).

Bas vs any of the great HW. (Personally loved the dude and his style, ahead of his time, but almost all his fights were in Pancrase, he had some fights against the Shamrock brothers when they were both in their prime, but we did not get to see enough of the guy).

 

Igor vs Fedor would've been a cool passing of the torch kinda fight. But holy shit, I never noticed how many fights Igor had compared to Fedor in that early time period. Igor already had a record of 42-3, 1NC by the time Fedor made his debut & he's only 3 years older. If Igor didn't have all the Visa issues he had, I think he could've been a big star in the UFC's dark ages. Always looked for the finish & did very well against the one-dimensional wrestlers that dominated during his era.

 

I'd have to take Cain over Ubereem & I think Cain is super overrated personally. Overeem always seems to shit the bed when it matters most.

 

After talking about Bas with Chris earlier in the thread I re-watched a career retrospective video of his (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BK_FycKadJg; FYI this guys channel is awesome if you love detailed retrospectives of legendary fighters). I feel like if we got to see more of him outside of Pancrase I don't think we'd look so highly of him. Bas had awful takedown defense & his record was heavily padded by pro-wrestlers who had zero striking & rudimentary wrestling/submission skills. Yet they all managed to take him down. Bas vs Igor would've been fun, Couture/Coleman would've eaten his lunch. Love the guy though his personality infectious.

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I'd have to take Cain over Ubereem & I think Cain is super overrated personally. Overeem always seems to shit the bed when it matters most.

 

Not sure, the Ubereem that smashed Brock was a killing machine. I think Overeem was on a 12-0 streak from 16 November 2007 till December 2011 which is when he beat Brock. It was also at this time when he won the K-1 tourney (albeit it was a weak tourney overall, but still).

 

I think he got an injury in this time and also the testing became more strict and after a year+ layoff, he was not the same any more. Cain would have the wrestling advantage for sure, but Overeem would probably be winning the clinch (which is another area Cain was good at). Overeem was also good at submissions, 17 over his career, so it would be interesting if he was off his back. The striking would be in favor of Overeem.

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