Professional fighters you like/dislike the most...

RoboRat

Have been watching the UFC for a while on and off when I get a chance - Don't have ESPN or Setanta and the wifey hates the fighting so its rare that i can watch it!

I got a few best of knockouts, submissions and highlights DVD's and whilst watching them I found that I really dislike Frank Trigg. He seems like a complete mouthpiece and was moaning at the ref when the fight was stopped and he was clearly out and not protecting himself.

On the other hand, having watching Strikeforce and seing how Bigfoot Silva reacted to beating Fedor, that really made me like him. Likewise watching Arlovski and how he was genuinely checking on his opponent after knocking him out really gave him kudos.

I guess I like it when fighters show respect and concern for other fighters and I really dislike fighters who talk trash, insult and especially when they try and get a few extra digs in when the ref has stopped the fight (ala Rampage), I know its part of the game plan but I think that its bullsh1t.

Anyone else want to share what fighters they like/ dislike and why?

The Bored One

This might seem strange, but Alan Belcher. When I was watching UFC 113 and he choked out Patrick Cote, its looks to me after the ref calls it and he releases the choke that he shoves Cote down to the ground in order to propel himself to his feet. I looked back over it a few times to be sure, but it seemed fairly distinct. It sat pretty badly with me, I'd consider it a terrible display of sportsmanship and attitude.

ghost26ie

Never liked Tito Ortiz for alot of those reasons you posted. always seemed too arrogant, more than most others.

cowzerp

Thread carefully as fighter bashing is against the charter.

I'm not a fan of Gsp cause he's boring and does need to be with his talent, fighters who just do enough and play it safe in general bug me, if there skills are limited you can't name them though.

Gsp, Anderson silva and machida all in my dislike list for that!

cowzerp

ghost26ie wrote: »

Never liked Tito Ortiz for alot of those reasons you posted. always seemed too arrogant, more than most others.

Tito knows how to sell a fight and keep himself in a promotion, I think most of it is an act

RoboRat

cowzerp wrote: »

Thread carefully as fighter bashing is against the charter.

Thanks Cowzerp, I don't want this to turn into fighter bashing either. There are some unsavory characteristics that some fighters display like being a mouth or sore loser that I particularly don't like. I think that its about sportsmanship and treating your opponent with dignity and respect both before and after. I fully understand that in the heat of the moment when the adrenaline is pumping that you may act irrationally, but there is nothing to stop you from making a mends when you have calmed down a bit.

I agree with you about GSP, whilst I used to like him as a fighter I am finding it boring to watch him now. He really should do something that will challenge him and not take the easy road.

Hanley

Bisping would seem to be an obvious contender here after his cheap shot on Riveria...

davmol

Hanley wrote: »

Bisping would seem to be an obvious contender here after his cheap shot on Riveria...

And subsequent spitting at Rivera's corner.
The fight between him and Chael sonnen is one i woudl have loved to have seen.Especially teh build up with both being TUF coaches,would have made for fireworks IMO.

fightireland

Personally Genki Sudo is a real-life superhero.

K1 Legend
Grappling Ace
MMA Champ
Author
Poet
Actor
Dancer
Musician

WAR GENKI!

In fact to paraphrase him recently "(he) has recently just returned to the thrid dimension."

Zero-Cool

Can't stand Stefan Struve ever since he's fight against Morecraft at 117. When he came out in the 2nd round to touch your mans glove and threw a leg kick straight away. If you don't want to touch gloves, then don't. Even tho it was just a leg kick, it still didn't sit well with me and now I get immense pleasure every time he gets KO'd.

This thread is just asking for infractions for fighter bashing haha

Xlami

I have the upmost respect for all fighters and admiration for what they do so I try to never make negative remarks about any fighter, but the one fighter I can't stand is Chael Sonnen. I know the reasons I dislike are exactly the reasons others love him but I just see him as a loud mouth clown. Credit to fighters trying to hype a fight up and sell it but Chael just makes a fool of himself IMO. It annoyed me that his remarks were taken serious and now after his remarks about Lance, Overeem, a failed drug test and having his realtor license revoked I hope he's been exposed as a liar. He's a very talented fighter and has been in some great fights but as a person I'm just not a fan. Stylistically there would be a few fighters I'm not a fan of. Mainly Stun gun.

Also I'm a huge fan of Alan Belcher, he's had a very difficult year and I can't wait to see him back in action in September.

El Guapo!

There's not many fighters that annoy me but Diego Sanchez just gets under my skin, and so does Ben Henderson.

I like JDS especially after TUF13 he just comes across as a really nice genuine guy.
And Frankie Edgar seems like a decent down to earth bloke too.

mirwillbeback

Prepares to be flamed.....

Frank Mir.

Top Notch bjj grappler.
Former champ, won in 50 secs as huge underdog.
Had life threatening bike accident so bad that Doctors believed he would never walk again.
Struggled back to Octagon, took some serious hidings while out of shape.
Changed diet and worked stand up to get to a serious level.
Improved cardio, and adapted body shape after loss to Lesnar.
Family man, always with wife and has father in corner, also took on a child that wasn't his.
If, and a big if, he gets another title shot I wouldn't rule him out.
I met him and he was very sound.

And yet he gets remorselessly slagged off. Put those accomplishments beside Randy Coutures name and people would say he was God.

Also GSP, gentleman and sound. Randy - always time for fans. Marcus Davis - down to earth
Martin Kampmann - cool guy, happy to get pics.

Don't like Chuck, one dimensional, always struck me as a bully and a ego maniac.
Tito - mouth and doesn't have as much time for the fans as he would have you believe.
Baroni - mouth and loud, and not talking about inside the octagon.
Dan Henderson - zero personality.

chprt

I met him and he was very sound.

I'd say your a good judge of character .....

Xlami

mirwillbeback wrote: »

Prepares to be flamed.....

Frank Mir.

Top Notch bjj grappler.
Former champ, won in 50 secs as huge underdog.
Had life threatening bike accident so bad that Doctors believed he would never walk again.
Struggled back to Octagon, took some serious hidings while out of shape.
Changed diet and worked stand up to get to a serious level.
Improved cardio, and adapted body shape after loss to Lesnar.
Family man, always with wife and has father in corner, also took on a child that wasn't his.
If, and a big if, he gets another title shot I wouldn't rule him out.
I met him and he was very sound.

And yet he gets remorselessly slagged off. Put those accomplishments beside Randy Coutures name and people would say he was God.

Yeah I never get why people dislike Mir. He's never really done anything wrong and speaks just as confidently as most other fighters. Obviously Lesnar took a bit of heat for his post fight actions but some people said Mir deserved it. If Lesnar had acted the same way to a popular fighter like Randy for example he wouldn't have gotten off so easily.

ScareGilly

fightireland wrote: »

Personally Genki Sudo is a real-life superhero.

K1 Legend
Grappling Ace
MMA Champ
Author
Poet
Actor
Dancer
Musician

WAR GENKI!

In fact to paraphrase him recently "(he) has recently just returned to the thrid dimension."

+1


Favourite fighter ever, his actions inside and outside the cage/ring were amazing. And his fights were always exciting..

One of my favourite videos on Youtube, especially the 5th Fight :P

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45-tkN4bFYc

Lots of fighters come and go but I'm really starting to like Pablo Garza at the minute..

weemcd

Shogun, always thought he was a class act, hope he can return to a bit of form again so people can see his full ability, which hasn't always been seen in ufc (Jones fight was very difficult and disappointing for me to watch:().
His scalps as a fighter in Pride alone are legendary.

Mellor

Thread is going to skate very close to fighter bashing, I suppsoe its ok as long as we justify statements.

Jamie Te Huna is a disgrace imo.
Genuinely the worse thing i've seen in a cage in his fight verses Perosh, Bisping's knee/spit, Daly after the Bell cheap shot are nothing compared to this. He got lucky that not many people seen it as he's struggle to ever get on a decent promotion if he did similar again.

callaway92

Mellor wrote: »

Thread is going to skate very close to fighter bashing, I suppsoe its ok as long as we justify statements.

Jamie Te Huna is a disgrace imo.
Genuinely the worse thing i've seen in a cage in his fight verses Perosh, Bisping's knee/spit, Daly after the Bell cheap shot are nothing compared to this. He got lucky that not many people seen it as he's struggle to ever get on a decent promotion if he did similar again.

:eek:

what did he do?

fwiw Stephan Bonnar is probably my favourite

Sid_Justice

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWO3zMkWaSc

looked it up on google. knocked anthony perosh out in a great fight and ref stopped the fighr and he stomped on his head

scudzilla

Mike Bisping - He's just so mouthy and yet hasn't really accomplished anything of note in the sport, he's a beat 3 average fighters, lose to a decent one then restart that sequence again, i just don't like him.

George St Pierre - He's just so boring, never goes out to win/finish a fight, he only fights not to lose, so much talent too. And his fans are just nut huggers

Anderson Silva - Don't like the way he sulks then takes the piss out of some opponents, sure he's good but why play with a fighter like a cat plays wit a mouse, finish it for fcuk sakes

Paul Daley - As someone said earlier, after that cheap shot against Kos i just got no time for him, he should have learned how to act respectfully, no matter what kos said to him.

Tim Sylvia - I dunno why i don't like him, i just don't, maybe because he used to think he was so good when he was just at the top of a bad bunch, he'd never have been HW champ if the current crop of HW's were in the division at the time.


and the fighter i dislike most of all is.......


Dampage Jackson, i really really can't stand this guy, he's way past his best, never really rated him in Pride either, not after what Wandy did to him twice.
I don't like him because of his bad attitude, i've met him twice and he's been an arrogant fcuk both times, At the Hilton in Belfast he was wandering around wearing his LHW belt, refusing pictures and autographs, he then said he'd do pictures for $10 a time, thought he was joking but don't think he was. He was refusing to sign all autographs, even to kids. Then about 30 mins later a TV Camera turns up and he changes immediatelly. The guy only plays up for the camera.
He was the same when i met him in London, and he's not just been like that for me, many others have shared the same damp experience from Dampage

Mellor

Sid_Justice wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWO3zMkWaSc

looked it up on google. knocked anthony perosh out in a great fight and ref stopped the fighr and he stomped on his head

Yeah that's the one. i was going to post a video, but the first few I checked were the taken from the DVD release, which have the stomp edited out. They even adjusted the commentary so that it would conceal the edit.

He finished well, and Perosh was clearly out, but he kept landing shots (ref could of been a bit quicker). But to resist the ref when he is pulling you off the guy and to then go back for a stomp is disgraceful.

Edit: He donated his 127 purse to the Christchurch earthquake, which was a nice gesture so maybe the stomp was out of character. But maybe not.

Charlie3dan

scudzilla wrote: »

Tim Sylvia - I dunno why i don't like him, i just don't, maybe because he used to think he was so good when he was just at the top of a bad bunch, he'd never have been HW champ if the current crop of HW's were in the division at the time.

Oh man I couldn't stand Tim Sylvia, I thought he was an extremely limited fighter but he seemed to think he was one of the greats. He won fights by being extrememly big and awkward and having a long reach. And he was a poor representative for the sport. Never looked like he was properly in shape, was clearly not the brightest spark and ridiculous side burns.

Another fighter I can't stand is Deigo Sanchez. Takes himself far too seriously and seems to think the gods are on his side (although we could accuse many fighters of that).

Anderson Silva has been my favourite fighter for a long time. Diverse set of skills, makes other top class fighters look extremely average. His performances have always been the most exciting for me. I admit he's been dull in one or two fights but when he's on form there's no one that can compare.


I hadn't seen or heard about the TeHuna fight above. That's possibly the worst thing I've ever seen happen in a fight.

fightireland

ScareGilly wrote: »

+1


Favourite fighter ever, his actions inside and outside the cage/ring were amazing. And his fights were always exciting..

One of my favourite videos on Youtube, especially the 5th Fight :P

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45-tkN4bFYc

Lots of fighters come and go but I'm really starting to like Pablo Garza at the minute..

Yeah just an amazing guy - I own a genki tshirt that I bought off warovereasy a few years back - its too small and fecking purple but its still easily my favourite piece of MMA memorabilia :-P

El Guapo!

I forgot to add in Roy Nelson. His attitude just písses me off.

SDTimeout

Matt Serra - Comedy alone, the guy is hilarious and i love when he takes over Dana's video blogs on a fight week.

George Sotiropolous - I'll learn to spell his last name eventually.He's my favorite fighter in the UFC at the moment, one of the best BJJ games in the game and an ever improving stand up. Needs some pure wrestling style take downs and the guy will be a beast.

Damian Maia - THE best BJJ in the UFC and like Sots only needs the takedowns. His striking looked very good against Munoz and kind of threw many people off considering in the presser he even said he likes striking, but only in training because you don't get hurt as much.

Forest Master

Rampage is a douche. He tries too hard to be funny & it seems really forced. Plus, he's a bully & an assh*le.

And any fighter that sh*tes on about Jesus, etc, is usually annoying.

fightireland

Forest Master wrote: »

Rampage is a douche. He tries too hard to be funny & it seems really forced. Plus, he's a bully & an assh*le.

And any fighter that sh*tes on about Jesus, etc, is usually annoying.

Can you give even one reason why he is a "douche"?!

And as for the Jesus shout - you have instantly disliked about 30% of your "favourite" fighters there :-)

"GAWD BLESS THE LORD" :-)

cowzerp

Stick within the charter please.

Forest Master

fightireland wrote: »

Can you give even one reason why he is a "douche"?!

Seems cowzerp wants me to substantiate my comments, so here you go:



^^ Douche.

He ploughed through traffic in a monster truck with his picture on it and lead police on a chase through LA.
He bullied that guy on TUF - remember "titties? - that was textbook bullying.
He fondled a female reporter in Japan.
He motorboated another female reporter a few weeks ago.
He dry-humped another female report a while back.

More clips of his douchery here:
http://thebiglead.com/index.php/2011/05/31/rampage-jacksons-not-so-great-moments-in-reporter-harassment/

Shall I continue?

Or maybe I'm not allowed to discuss it further or I might get another warning - seems everyone else ITT is exempt though, so you can all work away.
I'm actually giving hard evidence to back up my comments - clips & specific incidents - yet I get a warning - but everyone else can just make generic comments like "attitude just písses me off", and "he's boring" and "complete mouthpiece" and "arrogant", and "loud mouth clown" and "a bully and a ego maniac"

I see how the "buddy" system works around here.

SDTimeout

That was such a comprehensive list, i think you'd be as well sending it to Rampage and asking him to change. Most people here know what Rampage is and enjoy it. You can't change a persons opinion on someone generally.

Forest Master

SDTimeout wrote: »

You can't change a persons opinion on someone generally.

Where did I try?

Read topic title , FFS - "Professional fighters you like/dislike the most..." - I named the one I disliked the most.

So what's your point?

SDTimeout

Forest Master wrote: »

Where did I try?

Read topic title , FFS - "Professional fighters you like/dislike the most..." - I named the one I disliked the most.

So what's your point?

It just came across like you were trying to get people to see why everyone should hate him. You can say how you dislike a fighter in a far less troll-ish way without making him look like sh!t.

I dislike a couple of fighters, you could have just said I don't like his personality and you wouldn't have gotten in trouble.

Fighter i disliked up until a while ago was Silva. Due to his inability to speak English, I believed that if your a champ in the UFC you should at least make the effort to learn English. To be fair his English was very good on the MMAHour a few weeks ago.

Forest Master

SDTimeout wrote: »

I dislike a couple of fighters, you could have just said I don't like his personality and you wouldn't have gotten in trouble.

Eh - I did - I said he was a douche - that's part of his personality - it's not physical is it? I didn't say he had a big nose or anything.

It just came across like you were trying to get people to see why everyone should hate him.

Why - because I backed up my opinion with tangible incidents?

I don't get this: I get warned by cowzerp for not giving enough detail as to why I thought Rampage was a douche; and then someone else says I'm trolling and "trying to change opinions" because I gave too much detail.

SDTimeout wrote: »

Fighter i disliked up until a while ago was Silva. Due to his inability to speak English, I believed that if your a champ in the UFC you should at least make the effort to learn English.

Yeah - that's totally not even hinting at prejudice whatsoever... Really good reason to dislike someone - "because they don't speak the same language as me". You're lucky you're part of the clique on here though, or you could have been warned for that comment!

unknown13

Rick Story because his mouth is becoming bigger and bigger. He is being very disrespectful aswell.

Jamie Varner because of his comments about Cerrone.

El Guapo!

Forest Master wrote: »

I see how the "buddy" system works around here.

You seem to have a real chip on your shoulder when it comes to this forum and its been evident in a few threads now.
All that was basically said was that you need to be careful that you don't cross the line between giving your opinion and fighter bashing. And then you got on the defensive and came back with smart aggressive replies.

To clarify, I think just saying he's a "douche" is fighter bashing. But saying why you think someone is arrogant etc is ok within reason.
You quoted me as saying Roy Nelsons attitude písses me off. I said that because it does. But I didn't just come out and say he's an asshole.

And its already been discussed about his attitude so people know what I'm talking about. He seems to not want to change his physique and fitness level and just comes across as unprofessional.

The Bored One

One fighter I'm always happy to root for is Urijah Faber. Always interesting to watch, seems like a very nice laid back guy, and deserves alot of respect for fighting till the fifth round against Mike Brown in a genuinely aggressive way despite having broken his right hand and dislocated his left thumb early in the match.

SDTimeout

Forest Master wrote: »

Eh - I did - I said he was a douche - that's part of his personality - it's not physical is it? I didn't say he had a big nose or anything.


Why - because I backed up my opinion with tangible incidents?

I don't get this: I get warned by cowzerp for not giving enough detail as to why I thought Rampage was a douche; and then someone else says I'm trolling and "trying to change opinions" because I gave too much detail.


Yeah - that's totally not even hinting at prejudice whatsoever... Really good reason to dislike someone - "because they don't speak the same language as me". You're lucky you're part of the clique on here though, or you could have been warned for that comment!

I didn't call you a troll, because that's against the charter

Believe me, the people I've annoyed on here will probably exclude me from this "clique" for life. However i like to think some of them give me a bit of respect due to introducing myself to them at local shows, and putting my name in my profile because i know if i did say something out of line, they would all be the first to call me up on it.

Less of this bad karma, I've still got two exams to do next week.

Jason McCabe

If I had to pick the 3 fighters I like most (not who I like fighting the most) i'd say


Fedor
Nog
Shogun

They all seem to be modest lads


No great fan of
Bisping
Daley
Hughes, chuck or tito


Oddly I like Baroni and Brock as I find them entertaining

callaway92

Jason McCabe wrote: »

If I had to pick the 3 fighters I like most (not who I like fighting the most) i'd say


Fedor
Nog
Shogun

They all seem to be modest lads


No great fan of
Bisping
Daley
Hughes, chuck or tito


Oddly I like Baroni and Brock as I find them entertaining

Interesting...care to elaborate?

RoboRat

Funnily enough I'm not a big fan of Chuck either, I think he's a bit one dimensional and I don't like his fighting style either. I don't dislike him but I wouldn't scramble and buy a PPV event if he was headlining it.

I also don't like watching Keith Jardine either, I'm not sure if I'm freaked because he looks like an extra from 'The Hills Have Eyes' or that he looks like a simpleton that's going to get smashed (even though he is well capable of fighting) but I really don't like his style of fighting.

Another fighter I cannot warm to is Brian Stann. I can't quite pinpoint it but he just seems to clean cut... too American, which is weird because I don't dislike Americans, I just don't like people who are OTT patriotic or loud and seem to preach - He seems like he would be better suited being a superhero than an MMA star. I know this is completely irrational and I'm not fighter bashing, just expressing an opinion.

Jason McCabe

I'm just not a big Fan of his style.

He never really excited me. Probably someone I should like but don't

I met him and he was friendly enough but I would guess he's the sort of guy who would be happy enough sticking his foot through ur skull for pleasure

fightireland

Forest Master wrote: »

Seems cowzerp wants me to substantiate my comment so here you go:

I am not Cowzerp, I took offence to the word "douche" and asked you to explain why you thought Rampage was a "douch."

Your response was very comprehensive and I appreciate that but (seemingly) getting wound up and (you could say) accusing me of being part of some clique is something I'm not really impressed by.

But so be it, a thread like this had the potential for somebody to lose the head.

I'll leave it at that :-)

Forest Master

fightireland wrote: »

I am not Cowzerp, I took offence to the word "douche" and asked you to explain why you thought Rampage was a "douch."

cowzerp gave me a warning for my "douche" post, so that's what I meant by "cowzerp wants me to substantiate my comment" - see the yellow card under my post. I wasn't replying to you.

fightireland

Forest Master wrote: »

cowzerp gave me a warning for my "douche" post, so that's what I meant by "cowzerp wants me to substantiate my comment" - see the yellow card under my post. I wasn't replying to you.

Gotcha - you quoted me though so that's why i replied.

So any way back to thread :-) - I don't "dislike" any fighter as they are braver than most of us and entertain us like no other sport but I've always struggled to forgive Koscheck for his behaviour toward Leben all those years ago...

Richy06

I disliked Shane Carwin up until the other day. Now I don't particularly like him anymore but I have a hell of a lot more respect after his gutsy performance in Vancouver. But my dislike from him mainly stems from the whole steroid controversy which he never addressed.

Apart from that I honestly can't think of a lot of fighters I have an intense dislike for. Sure some of them have abrasive, chauvinistic traits to their personalities but this is kind of what makes it compelling to watch for me, apart from the obvious reasons to watch two men test their skills.

What I do have though is the utmost respect for anyone that trains and fights full time. The sheer dedication and the sacrifices that these guys make never ceases to amaze me. Some of the antics of fighters during fights have sure as hell gotten on my nerves and out made me outright angry at times - Silva/Maia springs to mind. But then I see something that reels me back in again - Silva's crane kick on Machida.

unknown13

Kenny Florian and GSP because they both annoy me by talking a load of búllshít continually.

I hate fighters with a big mouth.

Professey Chin

Richy06 wrote: »

What I do have though is the utmost respect for anyone that trains and fights full time. The sheer dedication and the sacrifices that these guys make never ceases to amaze me. Some of the antics of fighters during fights have sure as hell gotten on my nerves and out made me outright angry at times - Silva/Maia springs to mind. But then I see something that reels me back in again - Silva's crane kick on Machida.

Do you mean Silvas front kick on Vitor or Machidas crane-kick on Couture?

El Guapo!

The Chin wrote: »

Do you mean Silvas front kick on Vitor or Machidas crane-kick on Couture?

Either way he has Steven Segal to thank.

Richy06

Damn, I meant Silva/Belfort. Brain fart!

The Bored One

unknown13 wrote: »

Kenny Florian and GSP because they both annoy me by talking a load of búllshít continually.

I hate fighters with a big mouth.

Where are you getting that from for GSP? He tends to be pretty mild mannered.