# Best fights to show to new MMA fan?



## Davisty69 (May 24, 2007)

I was trying to figure out which fights to put on a mix dvd to show my boss, a new MMA fan. There are a few that immediately come to mind, but I figured, "hell, what good is a MMA forum if you can't get the collective input from other Uber fans ."

So, hit me with the MMA fights that you would want to show a friend or family member of yours that is just getting into MMA.


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## Intermission (Oct 1, 2009)

Wanderlei Silva vs. Hidehiko Yoshida 1
Josh Barnett vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Bob Sapp
Matt Hughes vs. Frank Trigg 2
Don Frye vs. Ken Shamrock
Kendall Groves vs. Ed Herman
Royce Gracie vs. Dan Severn
Royce Gracie vs. Kazushi Sakuraba
*Stephan Bonnar vs. Forrest Griffin
Matt Hughes vs. B.J. Penn II*
_*Shogun vs. Machida*_
Crocop vs. Gonzaga
Cain Velasquez vs. Kongo


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## Mjr (Apr 22, 2007)

Intermission said:


> Wanderlei Silva vs. Hidehiko Yoshida 1
> Josh Barnett vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
> Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Bob Sapp
> Matt Hughes vs. Frank Trigg 2
> ...



Why is Cain and Kongo there? lol

Good list otherwise.


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## Davisty69 (May 24, 2007)

Mjr said:


> Why is Cain and Kongo there? lol
> 
> Good list otherwise.


Who should be there instead? 

Hell, we should just make this a top 25 list and I'll compile it together and make it an MMAforum official list


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## Toxic (Mar 1, 2007)

Nothing involving Royce Gracie from the early days, historical yes, but frankly even I find them boring as shit and new fans don't understand what is happening so its even worse. If you want to make them really get into it show them great fights.

Diego Sanchez/Clay Guida
Wandy/Chuck
BJ Penn/Joe Stevenson
Tyson Griffen/Thiago Tavares
Miguel Torres/Yoshiro Maeda
Urijah Faber/Jens Pulver 1


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## Intermission (Oct 1, 2009)

Mjr said:


> Why is Cain and Kongo there? lol
> 
> Good list otherwise.



Aha well look at the sig, i love me some Cain 

just a personal oppinion but yeah its a solid list


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## Mjr (Apr 22, 2007)

Intermission said:


> Aha well look at the sig, i love me some Cain
> 
> just a personal oppinion but yeah its a solid list


Haha! of course Fedor punctuates my list even though his fights are usually a one sided demolition. While some of the below fights are just a straight up slugfest, this is usually what interests the casual fan, they get interested in the science at a later date!

1: Melvin Manhoef vs Evangelista Cyborg (amazing standup, can help sway boxing fans)

2: Fedor vs Cro Cop

3. Shogun vs Nog

4. Forrest vs Bonnar

5. Rampage vs Lidell #1

6. Cro Cop vs Aleks

7. Rampage vs Silva #1

8.W Silva vs. Hidehiko Yoshida

9.W Silva vs Lidell

10.Don Frye and Yoshihiro Takayama (lol crazy)


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## joshua7789 (Apr 25, 2009)

Any fight with Tyson Griffin in it. The dude is one of the more well rounded fighters in the UFC. He isnt great in any one department, but he is good in all of them.


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## Davisty69 (May 24, 2007)

I know we can get more of our members involved in this... We have the best members around


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## sk double i (Apr 13, 2007)

Gomi vs. Diaz 
Fedor vs. Fujita

Any Alvarez fight as of recent.

I think the best fights you show a new fan is a war where one or both fighters are in serious trouble and coming back from the dead to win with a submission. There is no other sport where you see people tapping and I dont think new fans are impressed with KO's with 4oz gloves. Technical brawls are the best.


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## alizio (May 27, 2009)

Silva vs Cote (esp if your a cote fan you can find ways to say he was winning while doing nothing, amazing!!)

Silva vs Leites (does it get any better then one guy scared to fight and another scared to hurt that guy??)

any TUF season 10 fight except the last 4.

Watch these in succession and your friend will hate you and MMA in no time


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## Intermission (Oct 1, 2009)

alizio said:


> Silva vs Cote (esp if your a cote fan you can find ways to say he was winning while doing nothing, amazing!!)
> 
> Silva vs Leites (does it get any better then one guy scared to fight and another scared to hurt that guy??)
> 
> ...


Wow, this post had me laughing hard.. 


anyways I think Bonnar vs Griffin is the best fight


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## Hynes20 (May 12, 2009)

Sam Stout Vs Spencer Fisher 1 & 2


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## BWoods (Apr 8, 2007)

Frankie Edgar vs Tyson Griffin
Randy Couture vs Gonzaga
Any Crocop highlight reel followed by Crocop vs Big Nog
Couture vs Big Nog
Machida vs Ortiz
Rampage vs Liddell 2
Forrest vs Rampage
Guida vs Huerta
Sanchez vs Guida
Penn vs Sherk
GSP vs Hughes 2 and 3
Randleman vs Fedor
Big Nog vs Fedor
Rogers vs Fedor
Arlovski vs Sylvia 1 and 2
Wandy vs Rampage 1
Shogun vs Overeem 1 and 2
Shogun vs Rampage
Paul Taylor vs Paul Kelly

Any fights that show how dramatic the sport can be and creates the legacy of fighters. Showing fights in chronological order is best too, because it creates the auras around fighters such as Couture, Big Nog, and Fedor. As well as showing how some fighters had off performances, like Shogun vs Griffin/Coleman 2. 

Chris Lytle's more recent fights are great too, vs Kevin "the eyepoke" Burns. 
Drogo vs Scott Smith is a great fight too. It doesn't always have to be the top 10 fighters that draw in new fans.


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## The Horticulturist (Feb 16, 2009)

I have every Pride, UFC, Affliction, Dream, and a lot of old Vale Tudo on my HD, and these are the ones I normally go for first. The last 2 weeks, I've actually been showing a guy this exact stuff.

-GSP vs Serra II (Crowd is going bananas. The guy kept commenting on how good his timing on takedowns is, and he knows NOTHING about fighting)

-Demian Maia vs Jason MacDonald (Cmon, if they don't know grappling, they will understand something after this fight.)

-Brock Lesnar vs Randy Couture (Gives a few examples of skill nullifying size, fun to explain how much of a legend Randy is, and listen to them be amazed at the size of Brock.)

-ANY Shogun or Wanderlei fight where he wins with soccer kicks or stomps.

-Wanderlei vs Dan Henderson (Ow, every second of this fight hurts, from Dan getting his head stomped on, to Wanderlei getting the classic KO-->BOMB on the ground)

-Crocop vs Wanderlei (All of it is good)

-Crocop vs Aleksander Emelianenko (HOLY **** this is a fight that pumps me up soooo much. The way they played it as Crocop sending the message to Fedor, makes it one of the top moments for me in mma history for sure.)


I never show the Diego vs Guida fight anymore, the first time I did, I realized how much Clay just laid on top of him.(not hating for it, I loved the fight, but not for new fans to sit through and be frustrated.)

-Machida vs Rashad (This is a KO with the perfect buildup to it within the fight. People see the finish coming, and when Rashad collapses, the jaws drop.)

There are so many I'm missing, so many Subs that I can't think of now. Bottom line, is that I pick fights with the minimum amount of downtime, because I don't want them to feel like looking away.

Sorry Jake Sheilds! I'll never show you to anyone!


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## the ultimate (Mar 5, 2007)

Fedor v Randleman
Cro Cop v Big Nog
Gomi v Diaz
Bonnar v Griffin I
Chuck v Wanderlei
Shogun v Machida (really good technical war)
Tyson Griffin v Frankie Edgar
Rampage v Forrest
Sanchez v Parisyan
Alvarez v Kawajiri
Cung Le V Frank Shamrock
Maia v McDonald


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## GMK13 (Apr 20, 2009)

fedor v.s choi, just show people size doesnt matter.


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## TERMINATOR (Jul 6, 2008)

Griffin/Bonnar
Guida/Sanchez

Then maybe a couple with huge knockouts as finishers such as Bisping/Hendo


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## M_D (Apr 8, 2007)

Forrest/bonnar 1 (its kinda hard to find this fight as a whole on the net though for some reason)
nate diaz vs almost anyone (to show them ground/submission positions, he is just really fluid in his sub transitions.)
so them some old chuck fights
and of course some bj fights to show some well rounded good striking and subs


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## Davisty69 (May 24, 2007)

Thanks for all the responses guys. Mods, don't forget to add your picks to this list. I'm going to compile the results and make a ranking of these fights, as well as try and get a link to as many fights as I can.


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## Xerxes (Aug 14, 2008)

Melvin Manhoef vs “Cyborg” Santos

Demian Maia vs Jason MacDonald

Don Frye vs Takayama

Shogun vs Rogerio Nogueira

Fedor vs Brett Rogers

Sean Sherk vs Tyson Griffin

Tyson Griffin vs Frankie Edgar

Tyson Griffin vs Clay Guida

Clay Guida vs Diego Sanchez

Diego Sanchez vs Karo Parisyan

Diego Sanchez vs Nick Diaz

Donald Cerrone vs Ben Henderson

Miguel Torres vs Mizugaki

Eddie Alvarez vs Kawajiri 

Nick Diaz vs Gomi

Randy Couture vs Rodrigo Nogueira

Mirko Cro Cop vs Rodrigo Nogueira

Wanderlei Silva vs Rampage Jackson 1 and 2


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## Mjr (Apr 22, 2007)

Xerxes said:


> Melvin Manhoef vs “Cyborg” Santos
> 
> Demian Maia vs Jason MacDonald
> 
> ...



Bah thats a good list also, I forgot Randy and Nog!


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## joshua7789 (Apr 25, 2009)

Another war of a fight was Carlos Condit vs Hiromitsu Miura. It was one of the best fights I have ever watched, I was a condit fan before that fight, I became a super fan of his after that fight.


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## Indestructibl3 (Apr 2, 2009)

GSP v Fitch
Torres v Mizugaki
Urijah v Brown II


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## HitOrGetHit (Jun 29, 2009)

I would show him some wars. To really get him into it!

I liked:

Forrest Griffin vs. Stephan Bonnar
Chuck Liddell vs. Wanderlei Silva
Urijah Faber vs. Jens Pulver I
Sean Sherk vs. Tyson Griffin (Sherk's hands were so swollen after the fight they had to cut his gloves off)
GSP vs. Jon Fitch


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## Soojooko (Jun 4, 2009)

Lesnar vs Mir 1 is a great fight for noobies. If you've never watched MMA before it would be like, "O man... that huge guy is beating on that smaller dude. Wow, hes got him down and smashing his face in. This cant be fair! Man, that smaller dude stands no chance... the pink guy is a monster. Look, little dudes grabbed pink dudes leg in desperation. Haha! That wont get you nowhere little dude!!!... big dudes gonna smash your... wait... what!? It's over?! What happened?? Wow!!!"


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## HitOrGetHit (Jun 29, 2009)

Soojooko said:


> Lesnar vs Mir 1 is a great fight for noobies. If you've never watched MMA before it would be like, "O man... that huge guy is beating on that smaller dude. Wow, hes got him down and smashing his face in. This cant be fair! Man, that smaller dude stands no chance... the pink guy is a monster. Look, little dudes grabbed pink dudes leg in desperation. Haha! That wont get you nowhere little dude!!!... big dudes gonna smash your... wait... what!? It's over?! What happened?? Wow!!!"


HAHA I loved your post man!!!


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## Davisty69 (May 24, 2007)

I'm compiling the results now, however, feel free to add more if you guys want. 

I'll be putting the 70+ fights that have been suggested into multiple threads for people to vote on to week out the less popular results.


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## wukkadb (Jan 1, 2007)

Nick Diaz vs Robbie Lawler
Hughes vs Trigg 2
Hughes vs GSP 2
GSP vs Sean Sherk
Bj vs Hughes 1
Fedor vs Nog 1 or 3
Fedor vs Goodridge
Mirko vs Aleksander
Aleksander vs Barnett
Diaz vs Gomi
Gomi vs Kawajiri
Pulver vs Sakurai

Man, I could go on forever. -_-


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## BrutalKO (Oct 5, 2006)

...Man that wasn't a hard answer in the past but it has become a tough question for me. I suppose I would show them a little of UFC 1 to draw in the concept of how fighting styles can have such a dramatic contrast. Then I would progress to the early Pride days to show how technical MMA rules were at the time. Then mix it up with highlights of the most dominant champions ever to compete. Fighters jumping weightclasses and winning big. One or two knockout volumes would also be in the mix. Finally, I would just say "Man( or girl) you ready to come over, grab a cold one with the rest of my friends and watch the fights"? :thumbsup:


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## The Horticulturist (Feb 16, 2009)

Right now I am watching Rampage vs Hendo at UFC 75. MAN, I feel like people don't give this fight any props. 

IT WAS A FIRE-FIGHT, 

I can't believe no one got knocked out.

On top of the ridiculous bombs they were throwing, this fight showcased trips, takedowns, knockdowns, submission attempts, and just about every ground position either guy has been seen in, and then some.

It ends very, very strong. I love this fight.


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## Davisty69 (May 24, 2007)

Thank you everyone for all of your votes. I've compiled the first 16 choices and have a poll set up to condense it down to the top 5 of round 1. 

Please vote, the more people vote, the more accurate the poll.
http://www.mmaforum.com/general-mma-discussion/67754-top-25-fights-show-new-fan-first-16-poll.html#post1062066


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## onthebrink2 (Oct 4, 2006)

Diaz vs. Gomi
Diaz vs. Karo
Karo vs. Diego
Stevenson vs. Cummo
Hughes vs. Trigg 2


Gonzaga vs Jordan best fight of all time


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