...OH, ONE MORE THING - PLEASE BOOKMARK US & VISIT DAILY!
By: Brad Walker, MMATorch Columnist
Once upon a time Stephan Bonnar and Forrest Griffin had one of the best and most important fights in both UFC and MMA history, with Griffin winning both the fight and the title of "The Ultimate Fighter." Since that fight, Bonnar has been popped twice for using PED's and amassed an incredibly mediocre record of 8–6 inside of the Octagon. Griffin went on to amass an also less than mind blowing record of 9 wins and 5 losses, but in the process also defeated Rampage Jackson for a very short reign as UFC Light Heavyweight Champion.
Combined they put up 17 wins and 11 losses in the UFC, with 1 title win, numerous accounts of Griffin sprinting from the cage after a fight, and an inhumane amount of lackluster bouts. This is just a small part of the reason that neither of these men should be inducted into the UFC hall of fame... ever.
If we're going to go based simply on bringing eyes to a UFC fight, Kimbo and Roy Nelson are definite shoe ins for the Hall of Fame in the future, and they're both below par in every way shape (no pun intended) and form. These two are very sub-par fighters in every part of the game, and even in their prime neither man was a force to be reckoned with. Gracie, Shamrock, Severn, Couture, Coleman, Liddell, Hughes, Ortiz... Griffin, Bonnar. Look at that list of names, and you tell me if the last two of them belong anywhere near the rest on that list.
Gracie was the godfather of MMA, Shamrock was the man who followed him up, Severn, Couture, and Coleman are three of the best heavyweights in the history of the sport, Liddell and Ortiz are two of the most dominant champions in light heavyweight history, and Hughes set the bar for welterweights. Bonnar and Griffin had one epic fight and an essentially non-existent title reign between them, and now we have to believe that they're Hall of Fame material?
Not only were neither of them ever the best fighter at any point in time, but neither of them were truly elite, either. Look how bad Anderson Silva clowned Forrest Griffin when they fought, supposedly while Forrest was still in his prime. Look at how poor Stephan Bonnar has looked in most of his UFC fights, including the two fights he was popped for steroids. At this point I'm pretty sure that it's clear I am not a fan of either of these fighters – but I'm also not a hater – I just think they aren't meant to be immortalized in a "hall of fame."
There are a few fighters out there who absolutely should be, but not these two; that's like the NBA deciding to put Shawn Bradley and Dan Majerle in the hall of fame, both mediocre players who made a little impact in their careers, and it would be absurd. I presume that this decision was made based on their fight at the end of the first season of TUF and I understand they want that to feel special for the rest of time, but this actually marks it up with nonsense. Griffin is the more deserving of the two, but even he going in alone doesn't make a ton of sense, and Bonnar going into the hall of fame is just terrible in every aspect of the decision. The only way this gets any worse is if they put in Kim Winslow on the same day and dub her the "best referee of all time." I have much more to say about this, but that will come in my follow up column, which will include 10 fighters who actually deserve to be in the UFC Hall of Fame.
Thanks for reading and follow me on Twitter @BradMMATorch
(Attention MMATorch app users: Make sure to upgrade to the latest edition of the MMATorch app on your iPhone, iPad, or Android device!)
Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
STAFF COLUMNISTS: Shawn Ennis - Jason Amadi
Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
Interested in joining MMATorch's writing team? Send idea for a theme to your column (for Specialist section) or area of interest (i.e. TV Reporter) along with a sample of writing to mmatorch@gmail.com.
