FACEBOOK TWITTER RSS APP PODCAST Opinion & Analysis : Staff Columnists COLUMN: Three fights missing from UFC's "Top 100 Fights" DVD set, and the three fights that should be bumped

Feb 17, 2010 - 8:32:24 PM

By Jason Shielke, MMATorch Columnist

Recently, I ordered the UFC's Ultimate 100 Greatest Fights. The 6 disc Blu-ray collection was only $65 shipped from a major online retailer. If you don't have it, I highly suggest it. There is nothing better than MMA in Hi-Def! Anyway, I digress...

Thanks to a snowstorm which caused me to wreck my car (or me being stupid and trying to take a curve too fast, but I like to blame it on the snow) and left me stuck at my house for three days, I got a chance to watch all 100 fights. While I was watching the fights, I was blown away by a few fights that weren't included and amazed at a couple of fights that were included. So let's start off with the fights that I thought should have been included. I'll start with the fights I thought should have been included

3. Mark Coleman vs. Don Fyre from UFC 10

This event was Coleman's professional debut. He ran through Moti Horenstein and Gary Goodridge to make it to the finals of the tournament. He looked absolutely unstoppable. In the finals, he met up against Don Frye, who was coming off a win of the UFC 8 which took him just over 3 minutes to win. The fight was an absolute war, with Coleman dominating Frye for the better part of the fight.

Coleman actually at one point implored Frye to quit, but Frye being the warrior he is refused to give up. The beating finally stopped around the 11 minute mark. Frye's face was bloodied up and both of his eyes were swollen shut, but it just proved that Frye was an warrior with a never say die attitude, and it established Coleman as the best fighter in the UFC at that point of time

I would have put this fight in the top 20. That fight introduced the world to "ground-and-pound" and made a statement that wrestlers could be a dominate in MMA

2. Tito Ortiz vs. Ken Shamrock from UFC 40

To this day, more people attended this fight more than any other UFC event ever held in Las Vegas. This was a fight that everyone wanted to see since Ortiz gave Ken the double fingers after his fight against Guy Mezger at UFC 19. Tito had been running through the Light Heavyweight division (or was Chuck Liddell doing it for him?) and Ken was making his comeback after his stint in the WWF and had amassed a unspectacular record of 2-2 in Pride and the WMMAA.

Still, this was the fight that but the fledging UFC back on the map. The fight was dominated by Ortiz, with the exception of a nice right hand from Shamrock that buckled Tito's knees. Ken showed heart, but the younger, hungrier, and more talented Ortiz was just too good for the aging, out of his prime Shamrock.

I would have put this fight in the upper teens. With all the bad blood that had been brewing between the two for three years, this was definitely a fight for the fans. I, for one, couldn't wait for the fight to happen and, to me at least, is one of the most historic fights in the UFC's history.

1. Tito Ortiz vs. Frank Shamrock from UFC 22

I am literally p.o.'ed that this fight wasn't anywhere to be seen on any of the six blu-ray disc that I spent my hard earned money on. Seriously, can anyone make a sound argument as to why this fight wasn't included? You had the next big thing in Ortiz against the veteran in Shamrock in what everyone knew was going to possibly be the greatest fight up until that date.

This was just an all out war between two fighters who wanted nothing more than to be the UFC's first Middle Weight champion. The fight was nothing short of amazing. They both gave as much as they took, until the younger, less experienced Ortiz couldn't handle the constant pressure of Shamrock and lightly tapped the mat while on all fours to concede to the better fighter that night.

This fight should have easily been in the top 10. Can anyone actually say that at either of the Silva-Franklin fights was better than this?

And now on to the fights that somehow ended up on the list.

3. George St. Pierre vs. Karo Parisyan

This was just a boring fight. You had the raw new-comer in St. Pierre against Parisyan, who was fighting in the UFC for the second time. Granted, GSP has become one of the best MMA fighters in the world, but this fight was just boring. There were a couple of submission attempts by Karo, but GSP kept a dominated position and did a little bit of damage to grind out a unanimous decision. It was sore on the eyes to watch.

2. Anderson Silva vs. Chris Leben

Yes, I know this was Anderson Silva's debut in the UFC, but did anyone ever doubt that Leben was nothing more than an opponent who has a style to make Silva look good? Did anyone ever doubt the outcome? I didn't think so.

1. Rich Franklin vs. David Loiseau

Let's see... Franklin beats the hell out of Loiseau, who I swear brought his Shwinnn into the cage with him. I'll give David props for taking the beating he did, but a one sided match like that doesn't make for a great fight.

As always, give me your input! What fights do you think should or shouldn't have made the list? Shoot me an e-mail at JasonSchielke@gmail.com or, as always, leave your feedback on our facebook page!

[Ken Shamrock photo credit Mike Lano (c) MMATorch]

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