(Welcome to Undercard Superstar Roundtable, a feature we’ll be running often, especially during slow weeks like this. A question is posed, and the staff provides their answers. Since it’s the first roundtable, we decided to go simple and easy.)
Who is your favorite fighter in MMA and why?
Connor Dillon:
Shoot. This is a tough one. When I first got into the sport, it was Matt Hughes, then GSP, then Martin Kampmann. If I was going to choose one fighter out of all time that I’d choose, I’d say Kazushi Sakuraba. For the uninitiated, this was a catch wrestler (or shoot wrestler or shoot boxer, or if you listen to Joe Rogan’s shenanigans, a straight ace jiu-jitsu fighter) who would fight anyone. Want to see someone who should be fighting at Welterweight or Middleweight fight Light Heavyweights and Heavyweights in their prime? This guy is your man. Sakuraba fought people like Quinton Jackson, Mirko Cro Cop, Wanderlei Silva, Kevin Randleman, Ken Shamrock, and many other name fighters in such exciting match ups that it blew my mind. My favorite fight with him would either be his match against Carlos Newton or Renzo Gracie. The Sakuraba-Newton fight was a spectacular showing of how to use catch wrestling to throw around a jiu-jitsu ace. He’d mix in a few actions that no one in their right mind would make. He’d give up his back on people who could completely wipe the mat with any well renowned grappler, then sweep them with his patented Kimura-sweep, similar to Frank Mir on Minotauro.
Sakuraba did this often in his fight with Renzo, as well as the Newton fight. I just can’t talk enough about how awesome Saku is. He really is wonderful. He was jokey and hilarious, and could back up any of the jokes he participated in. Just ask Royce Gracie and the pajama joke that Sakuraba did.
Nolan Howell:
When it comes to favorite fighter, anyone who knows me knows that my heart belongs to Mark Hunt. The man has put glass slippers on both feet, using one to take home a K-1 Grand Prix and the other to potentially get a UFC title shot.
Regardless of story, Hunt is always fun to watch. With some solid fundamentals covered by a relatively ironclad chin, Hunt isn’t afraid to swing for the fences and turn any fight into a wild brawl.
When the time comes, don’t ask me for an expert opinion on Mark Hunt fights. The only thing you’ll hear from me is “Mark Hunt by first-round KO.” Sorry Junior dos Santos, you’re a nice guy, but it is time for Cinderella to have her second dance. You know this.
Tim Bernier:
I think I have to say Joe Lauzon is overtaking GSP as my favorite fighter. I love GSP. I think if he sprinkled a few finishes in his last 6 fights then I could make the case for him being better than Anderson (don’t worry, I concede the defeat for GOAT to Andy). I think he’s unequivocally the second best fighter who has ever fought. Some shmucks are putting Aldo on his level. HA! His resume is the toughest in history. I can spend hours defending him against spiteful keyboard warriors.
But man, Joe Lauzon. You guys will see just how much of a Lauzon mark I am here. Lauzon first caught my attention when I first started getting into gambling on MMA. I had bet on George Sotiropoulos against Lauzon at UFC 123. GSot had a huge hype train running at full speed at the time. I expected him to run through Lauzon. But then the fight started. Lauzon was putting a BEATING on George in the first round. I specifically remember cringing at some body shots he landed, thinking my money was being flushed down the drain. Sotiropoulos survived the round. Second round started, and the gassed Lauzon was taken down. Lauzon’s BJJ is incredible but when battling with a grappler like Sotiropoulos with no gas left in the tank, he was out of his element. He got armbarred. My bet was saved. But from that point on I woke up to what Joe Lauzon brings to a fight, every single time.
Lauzon brings excitement. No matter what. That’s incredibly valuable. I’m going to sound like every other schlub describing Lauzon, but it has to be said. He combines that technical striking style, high output, sometimes poor defense, amazing scramble, transition, and submission game with this tenacity and will to end the other guy’s night before those 15 minutes are up. A “sloppy” brawl will always be so much more entertaining when the guys know how to throw a punch. Lauzon’s fights against Miller and Varner are both in my top 5 favorites of all time. I think his submission of Varner was the best of 2012 and it wasn’t even a contest. More fighters need to have that dynamic ability to transition between throwing bombs and reversing a takedown attempt directly into a triangle choke.
But Joe Lauzon out of the cage is even better than the fighter that throws his face at fists with wanton disregard. Maybe I like him so much because he shares certain qualities with myself. He’s nerdy. He’s down to earth. He plays video games. He spends hours on the internet. His video blogs are the best that any fighter puts out. Including The Reem. He’s nice to his fans and interacts with them. He’s a cerebral dude that uses his out of the cage personality to find in the cage success. That’s something I can admire in a fighter. Honesty can be so refreshing in an age of cookie cutter answers.
See that 21 year old man-child in the red, grinning like a kid in a candy store? That’s me in a screencap of Lauzon’s UFC 155 vlog directly after shaking his hand. Dude looked exhausted and sick after cutting weight and he still walks up to all of the fans and shakes hands and says thank you. He could’ve easily walked right past everyone. Many fighters did.
Cory Braiterman:
I’m the type of person who cares more about the sport of MMA in general rather than players. Aside from some local dudes who I feel obligated to support, there aren’t too many fighters that I will cheer for over others. I just want to see good fights. Good fights make me happy. UFC Championship fights get me amped up more than your average fight, simply because I know that I’m watching two of the very best athletes in the world compete in their discipline. Occasionally however, there’s a fight or fighter that really sizzles my bacon.
As you have clearly figured out by the title of this piece, Chan Sung Jung has ascended that pinnacle of my own personal fandom to take his place as my favorite fighter. I hope he’s done the same to you, because quite frankly I think he’s becoming what every fighter should strive to be: an exciting winner.
When you can combine both of these facets in MMA, you become a very rare individual. There’s something commendable about being Jon Fitch or Jacob Volkmann, grinding out wins by being some combination of bigger, stronger, more technical and having a bigger will to win. Being a winner will almost always make you more money than being a loser, Bob Sapp shenanigans aside, and quite frankly, everyone wants to be a winner. If it takes scraping and clawing to cross that finish line first, so be it. The problem with being that style of winner in a business where style matters (don’t let anyone tell you differently), is that when you stop winning, you’ve got no fallback. When you’re clinging to that ledge and someone steps on your hand, it’s a long, long fall.
Just ask Jon or Antonio McKee.
On the flip side, if you’re an exciting fighter, but not winning, things do go downhill, just not as fast. It isn’t as bad as McKee being bounced from the UFC for the rest of his days after a split-decision loss, in fact, the UFC is still employing the likes of Dan Hardy (loser of four in a row), Yoshihiro Akiyama (four as well), Leonard Garcia (nuff said), Wanderlei Silva (loser of 5 out of 6 at one point) and Mirko Filipovic had to retire (lost his last three). It’s worse for your pride and ego rather than your state of employment, but it’ll eventually catch up with you. However, if you are able to combine the two, you can ascend to greatness incredibly quickly in this sport.
Wandy in his prime did it. Chuck Liddell is another good example. Fedor Emelianenko. Anderson Silva (Leites, Maia and Cote fights aside). Jon Jones (personality aside). Dan Henderson post 2008. And now, the Korean Zombie.
There’s so much to like. I’ve always been an intellectual to some degree. I’m not a large person, but I loved competing in sports, and always had to figure out ways to get an added edge. I did some coaching for a while, too, and finding out extra ways to maximize yourself makes me happy. Check this bit of introspection out: following his WEC 51 loss to George Roop, TKZ would post this on his blog (note, this is a translation from Korean):
In the end, a fighter who is all talk.
Who showed and proved nothing.
Drunken by the chants of ‘ZOMBIE!!! ZOMBIE!!!’
Not even a single mark left on my opponent’s face.
Even until the end, I was going for that one big shot…
As if going for a takedown were a sin, I didn’t even consider it.
So, that is how scary and painful it is to get knocked out.
I can feel a similar pain in my heart…
On the way to the hospital – as they drew my blood and performed the CT scan – I could only think one thing…
That I would never fight again.
All I could think about was my friend, Jun Seok. I would go learn his trade and work alongside him, like my friends – at a regular job.
Returning to the hotel…after seeing the fans…and the smirk from George(Roop)…
I went to my room and sat down with my team, where the atmosphere was much more relaxed and calm.
As I continued to question my relevance in MMA…
Suddenly the words of advice that Brian had offered to me at the hospital, came to mind.
Fighting in Korea…fighting in Japan…overcoming all those odds, to end it like this?
Is this why I delayed going to the army?
Is this why I’ve been competing since high school?
The worst part being…
Is this the best I can do?
Am I only good enough to lose to a fighter who was perceived as mediocre by MMA fans?
So, I’ve decided to give this one more shot.
But, the pride I once had for fighting ‘Zombie Style’ has been shattered.
I’m going to change.
It’s okay if you take away my Korean Zombie title.
It’s okay if everyone boos me.
It’s okay if no one in the world ever cheers for me again.
For everyone who has supported me thus far, that I have let down…
I make this promise to you…that I will never fight with the same style, ever again.– Jung, Chan-Sung
It was definitely emotional and probably overly dramatic, but it also signaled the beginning of Jung’s terrific run to what is hopefully a title shot. It was the second loss in a row, but the judging for the first fight against Leonard “Hypnotoad” Garcia is basically a load of hot garbage that no one recognizes as legitimate. The Jung of now is not merely a plow-ahead brawler, but a fighter using crisp head movement, solid counterpunching and ability to move laterally to go along with his durable chin and willingness to swing for the fences.
Putting his poetic license aside, we all know the awesome run that TKZ has been on, but seriously, his last three bouts have been such a wondrous variety of MMA that the sheer embodiment of this sport bears yet another look.
Marta Gallo:
My pick for favorite fighter is about more than just being a fighter. Sure, who doesn’t like a brawler that has trained with Shaolin monks? There is no doubt he has a few interesting stories to tell, but these are the things that make him my favorite….
First, of all he is an animal advocate. The picture features him with two “Vicktory Dogs”, Mel and Oscar, who suffer from babesia. A rare blood disease that is passed among fighting dogs by bites and deep puncture wounds. The treatment is very costly. Hardy partnered with Best Friends Animal Sanctuary to raise money for the affected dogs, both those already adopted and those waiting to find their homes. Bonus points, he also called Michael Vick a scumbag.
Next, he has a great sense of humor. I give you his tweet upon finding out that Jon Fitch was cut.
Who could forget him in a singlet, poking a little fun at himself, leading up to his fight with GSP? He also managed to piss off a lot 
of welterweights by getting that title shot. Never one to shy away from criticism, he zings a few other fighters on his blog
ThisIsNottingham.co.uk
On Josh Koscheck: “British fans will know Koscheck as the Fraggle-haired guy who got sparked out in one round in London a year ago, only to take his loss out on an innocent chair backstage, scoring a split decision points win over the unsuspecting piece of furniture. ”
On Mike Swick: “It’s funny Swick is now moaning that I didn’t deserve this shot. Swick should have kept his mind off me and on his last opponent, Paulo Thiago, and maybe he wouldn’t have been beaten again.”
Finally, he has stepped it up at press conferences. He has been alternating between a grey notch lapel suit and a charcoal peak lapel with black trim. That earns points with me, as I am usually completely disgusted with the fighters choice in apparel. Pro tip, every guy looks better in a suit.
Benjamin Kohn:
I have a few personal favorite fighters such as Forrest Griffin, Mark Coleman, Ryan Bader. But I am being forced to choose just one and that definitely will have to be Brock Lesnar. My reasons for liking him are many but I will always be forever for grateful for him being the reason I was introduced to this wonderful sport. The Brock/Mir rivalry made me hunger for more and more MMA and I could not get enough of this amazing sport! Brock was the reason I started watching and I made sure to watch and follow him throughout his incredible and tumultuous career. From his domination of Mir and Herring, his shells comeback against Carwin, and his shell being beaten by Cain and Reem, every time he stepped in the ring, I felt this sense of awe. Brock Lesnar really is just a man you want to know about, what he can do, and whether he will fail or succeed. He draws the eyes of the crowd no matter what he does and that is a quality that many athletes wish they had. The only bad part is obviously the what could have been.
Had he not been sick and had that time to train and improve, how much more could he have accomplished? Would we still be talking about the top 3 including Lesnar in it? Or possibly have him as a champion still? Brock came into a sport he never trained in, won a title, defended it twice and left on the heels of two horrific beatdowns (3 actually). This man brought millions of eyes to the sport and really deserves recognition for what he accomplished in that short timespan. Brock Lesnar will always be my favorite fighter.
Lucas Bourdon:
Because he’s Genki fucking Sudo ain’t enough of a reason? Fine. Genki was the first fighter I ever saw fight when I got into martial arts. I was curious but I had a bad opinion of MMA at the time. Genki showed me that it could be entertaining, beautiful and he was having fun doing it. He was the furthest thing from the stereotypical meathead fighter and if it wasn’t for him I might not be an MMA fan today. I also think that even though he didn’t really get to prove it against many of the best lightweights of his era, he’s one of the finest lightweights ever (I’ll go to my grave saying he got robbed against Duane Ludwig and the Kid stoppage was early). It’s a shame he retired so early (I’d still pay to watch him fight Joachim Hansen, book that shit Japan!).
Josh Hall:
Frankie Edgar is someone I was not a fan of for the longest time, but he eventually won me over in a big way. He isn’t the hardest hitter, strongest guy in the cage, best athlete, but he just keeps coming. That usually makes for a nice journeyman career, but Frankie was able to take a limited skill set and athleticism and turn it into the UFC LW championship. His fight with BJ Penn was one of the biggest title mismatches on paper in UFC history, but it made no difference to the tough SOB from Jersey.
His convincing win in the second fight is one of the more stunning things I’ve ever seen in the sport, as Edgar dominated the fight from bell to bell, confirming he was a legit champion, and making a fan for sure. Maynard 2 & 3 were enough to push him from a guy that had grown on me to a guy I can’t miss in the cage. In those fights Frankie went from the little guy with heart pulling some upsets to the MMA version of Rocky Balboa, surviving 2 first round muggings against Maynard, only to finish off the trilogy with an emphatic KO solidifying Edgar as one of the great UFC LW champions of all time.
TC Engel:
My favorite fighter is Carlos Condit. Carlos Condit is the fucking man. He’s fearless, aggressive, respectful, and a professional. There has been one fight in Condit’s WEC/UFC that has been criticized for being unexciting: Nick Diaz. That fight was the one fight that pushed my fandom of him over the edge. I’d always loved him before that fight for the obvious reasons: He beasts. But the Diaz fight showed that he can be strategic, and that he really doesn’t give a fuck if people don’t like him, he’ll still be his own man. That attitude really struck me and made me the fan of him I am today. Beyond that, I obviously love the way he “normally” fights. He goes absolutely balls to the walls, and never quits trying to make offense. His sweeps are on another level from the majority of fighters, and his strike variance is second to none.
For example, his two wins prior to Diaz came by a flying knee TKO, and a left hook KO, both of which were knockout of the year contenders. His pure aggression and love for fighting is incredibly enticing and addicting. I also really love that he refuses to be dragged down by the common tips to get ahead in MMA: talking. Condit never talks trash, and is very soft spoken, instead allowing his fists to do the talking. He never allowed Hardy or Diaz’s talking, boasting, or showmanship to get in his head, and instead just beat the hell out of them. That temperance is something many fighters do not possess. Lastly, and likely least importantly, he wears suits to press conferences. You are a professional athlete, mixed martial artists, wear a fucking suit to press conferences. Thank you. Carlos Condit is the fucking man.
Luke Irwin:
Before there was Ronda, there was Marloes.
Before there were Gina, Cyborg, Miesha, Liz, or Invicta, there was Marloes.
When men’s MMA, let alone female MMA was in its darkest period, there was Marloes. Winning one-night tournaments in Japan over three opponents trying to establish credibility to her life’s work.
Marloes Coenen rose to the top of the MMA community, not by nude photoshoots, not by outlandish quotes, manufactured feuds, or pandering to fans, Marloes Coenen became the best by the purest form of success, by winning.
She won by training at the monster factory known as Golden Glory. She’s eaten punches from Alistair Overeem and kicks from Semmy Schilt. She gradually earned their respect to be known as the “Golden Girl of Golden Glory”. When she won the Strikeforce Bantamweight Championship, her Golden Glory teammates were waiting at the airport for her to celebrate.
When she lost her title despite putting on a fantastic fight to Miesha Tate, what did Marloes do? Whine like some of her fallen opponents did? Hell, no. She stayed in America, put down roots in Kansas City, and re-evaluated. She got outwrestled by an American wrestler, so she got out of her comfort zone, and trained with American wrestlers like Jason High and Eric Akin while gleefully soaking in American culture, going to county fairs in the midwest and taking pictures of herself eating a giant turkey leg and going on carnival rides. It was awesome.
Marloes Coenen has done more for WMMA than Ronda Rousey has ever dreamed of doing. She’s a true role model. For all the girls who have a dream of being the very best, Marloes has already laid the groundwork for you.
(Images via Sherdog)
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