Paid Members John Matrix Posted July 13 Paid Members Posted July 13 (edited) Yeah, I toiled with this idea for 24 hours and didn’t manage to talk myself out of it. It was everywhere not long ago, so I imagine even non football fans saw at least some of the “Barclaysmen” craze on social media and I’ll be honest, it did absolutely nothing but WONDERS for my mental health at the time, just tweeting Pascal Chimbonda for 80 likes. @wandshogun09 and @Egg Shen’s recent posts in the 329 thread had a very similar effect, sending me down a nostalgic rabbit hole and giving birth to “Bravosmen” those cult heroes from the Bravo days when we’d all stay up late avoiding clocks because it would spoil that the main event was definitely over within a round because there was only 3 minutes of the broadcast remaining. For those of you new to the game, we’re not looking for your Silva’s or your Shogun’s. This is a place to celebrate the cult heroes of the day - universally loved, but questionably talented - perhaps they were severely limited, but had that one technique that endeared them to you, or who’s careers are defined by moments rather than magnitude. If I was on the fence about starting this thread this morning, that went out the window when Instagram, who’ve clearly just been fed all the raw data from my WhatsApp chats, threw Ben Saunders onto my feed - I can’t remember the name of the fighter he left with a forehead like a bouncy castle after THAT clinch, and creating that sense of must see when he got anyone in that position. Another who stands out to me for one reason and one reason only, is Antoni Hardonk and leg kicks that sounded like shotgun blasts. Big Dutch Kick-boxer and a great example of one of those single strength guys they’d roll out who’d look spectacular against mismatched opponents and entirely mismatched against anyone relatively competent. I see his last fight was against Pat Barry who very much took on that mantle so might need to go back and rewatch that at some point! and lastly before I open the floor, I’ve got to go with Brian Ebersole. The Hairrow pointing to his fucking chin. Need I continue? Well I’m going to. From punching people in the thighs to laying there as if he were on a sun lounger whilst deep in a guillotine choke, Ebersole was must see viewing in the Matrix household (note, I lived alone at the time) and he’d had what? About a thousand fights before they signed him? Very possibly the quintessential Bravosmen here. Very keen to see who you all might come up with to knock him off the podium! Edited July 13 by John Matrix Quote
jimufctna24 Posted July 17 Posted July 17 (edited) I'll mention Branden Lee Hinkle, a name few will remember. Looking back at Hinkle's fight record prior to 2005, it appears as though he was a well travelled journeyman, who had spent much of 2003 and 2004 fighting lower skilled fighters in South Korea. However, at the time, all Hinkle was really known for was that he used to return to his vehicle after his fights to smoke cigarettes. That was literally all I recall Frank Trigg writing about in his preview article for UFC 55, which he typed up for MMA Weekly. Hinkle was booked to fight a MMA novice by the name of Sean Gannon at UFC 55, a name I was not familiar with at the time. However, the UFC website poll for the fight was strongly weighted in Gannon's favour. This was due to, as many will know now, Gannon defeating Kimbo Slice in an organised and recorded street fight, which had gone viral on the video sharing sites that existed in 2005. In turn, scores of non-MMA fans flooded the UFC website to vote for a Gannon victory. Come fight night, reality set in, and Hinkle dismantled Gannon with relative ease. Despite Gannon boasting a judo and boxing background, he was clearly out of his depth in the UFC, even for the dismal standards for its heavyweight division at the time (the infamous Gonzaga vs Kevin Jordan fight occurred on the same night). Hinkle would lose his next two UFC bouts and the rest of his MMA career outside of the UFC was pretty unremarkable. However, I will always remember him for demonstrating to the mid-2000s internet crowd that an unskilled street fighter couldn't compete with even a moderately skilled MMA journeyman. Edited July 17 by jimufctna24 Quote
Cousin Jim Bob Posted July 17 Posted July 17 (edited) From what I remember Gannon was not an unskilled street fighter, he had fought a few low level MMA fights before the UFC. A glance at Tapology, he was 3-0 as an amateur and 2-1 as a pro. His fight with Kimbo was hyped up as Kimbo vs a low level MMA fighter. I think Gannon had called Kimbo a fraud online. So it gathered interest as everyone who doubted Kimbo was any good, and he was just a hype job, could see if they were right or not. Plus all Kimbo's fanboys were hoping he would prove himself legit. Kimbo blatantly lost but there were all kinds of arguments over the rules at the end, and Kimbo's lot claimed it was a "draw". Gannon retired after getting schooled by Hinkle. Think he realised pretty quickly he was nowhere near UFC level. Edited July 17 by Cousin Jim Bob Quote
jimufctna24 Posted July 17 Posted July 17 (edited) 21 minutes ago, Cousin Jim Bob said: From what I remember Gannon was not an unskilled street fighter, he had fought a few low level MMA fights before the UFC. A glance at Tapology, he was 3-0 as an amateur and 2-1 as a pro. I recall he was a police officer, who claimed to have boxed and trained in judo. After checking, the UFC did indeed credit him with a single MMA fight on his intro graphic (1-0), and Tapology do indeed credit him with numerous amateur and pro fights (he was actually 1-2 as a pro when he fought Hinkle, so the UFC into graphic was inaccurate). So aye, my mistake there. Thanks for the heads up. Edited July 17 by jimufctna24 Quote
Paid Members John Matrix Posted July 17 Author Paid Members Posted July 17 (edited) Got to show some love for Tyson Griffin in this thread. Was utterly convinced we were watching a future champ after he burst into the UFC with those three barnburners against Edgar, Guida and…I can’t remember the third! I just remember that hat-trick of performances not seen since Seagal came out of the blocks with Nico, Out for Justice and Hard to Kill. Looking back, it’s hard to understand why he never seemed to push on - I also remember feeling like he was one of the first guys Rogan used to talk about back when his commentary was palatable, who were putting everything together, not to mention of course, the fact that he couldn’t shut up about his massive arse if memory serves me correctly. Bonus story: I actually got to watch Tyson Griffin train (with his big brother Forrest) at Xtreme Couture. I was obsessed with Randy after the Tim Sylvia fight - probably THE moment that hooked me onto the sport, so on a trip to Vegas in 2008 while my make snuck off to find prostitutes, I got in a cab with $50 in my wallet and gave the driver the address hoping it’d be enough to get me there. Shat myself as we drove seemingly further and further into the desert arriving at what I can only describe as an industrial estate in the middle of nowhere, but sure enough…there it was. Randy however, was in fucking Germany at the time! But I did meet his then wife Kim, and alongside the Griffins, I also had a front row seat to watch the pro class which that day included Gray Maynard and Martin Kampmann, so yeah…not a bad day out, AND I didn’t catch anything unpleasant, so win win really. Edited July 17 by John Matrix Quote
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted July 18 Paid Members Posted July 18 You do know that Tyson Griffin and Forrest Griffin aren't really brothers John? 🤔 Quote
jimufctna24 Posted July 19 Posted July 19 (edited) Prior to his UFC debut, Griffin was hyped up massively on the forums due to his KO win over Faber in late 2005. The footage of the KO was the first exposure I had to Griffin (probably on the Sherdog forum). I remember he looked like a monster against David Lee in his UFC debut in September 2006, and it being a big surprise that Edgar (who as far as I can recall was a relative unknown at the time) beat him in early 2007. I don't actually remember anything about Griffin's highly rated fight with Tavres, but I do remember the barnburner he had with Guida in Ireland in mid-2007. I loved that fight. Similar to John, I can't really recall why Griffin didn't live up to his early hype (his technical shortcomings, etc). I do recall that the Edgar loss and Guida running him close dented his aura, but he went on a good run after those fights until around 2010. After which, Griffin lost a few close bouts and was also knocked out by a past it version of Gomi, followed by a short and unremarkable two fights at featherweight before being cut from the UFC altogether. I do think the lightweight division, even back in the mid to late 2000s, was filled with quality fighters. The likes of Penn, Edgar, Sherk, Maynard, Florian, Stevenson, Sanchez, Diaz, etc, were all active during that timeframe. It wasn't that Griffin was neccesarily inferior to all of those fighters, but some of them had more fame from appearing on TUF (Florian, Sanchez, etc) and a few held close victories over him (Sherk, Edgar). He therefore probably got lost in the shuffle a bit. Edited July 19 by jimufctna24 Quote
Paid Members John Matrix Posted July 19 Author Paid Members Posted July 19 7 hours ago, Egg Shen said: You do know that Tyson Griffin and Forrest Griffin aren't really brothers John? 🤔 Hahaha, yes. Sorry, sometimes I’m a little too dry for my own good. Quote
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted July 19 Paid Members Posted July 19 (edited) 😄 @jimufctna24Griffin's hype was probably derailed due to his issues with drink and drugs. I'm not sure at what stage of his career it happened but I do recall being surprised that it was something he was caught up in. His instagram shows he seems to be doing pretty well these days though. Speaking of doing well, our boy Tim Sylvia is documenting his weight loss on social media, the big fella is 125lb down and is probably smaller now than he was at his fighting prime. Good to see. Edited July 19 by Egg Shen Quote
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted July 19 Paid Members Posted July 19 (edited) Loving this thread. Meant to get stuck into it sooner but never had time in the week. I saw that pic of Sylvia recently and it genuinely took me a few seconds to realise it was actually him. Barely recognised him. Last time I saw him he was massive. Like seriously morbidly obese. Good on him. Was never a fan but fair play. Man, I was a huge fan of Tyson Griffin back then. Like Jim says, I think a lot of the early hype on him was because for a while he was the only loss on Urijah Faber’s record, and that was at a time when Faber was killing it in WEC. So the win aged well for Griffin. He had a legit claim to being the most entertaining fighter in the sport for a short window of time and basically killed the theory that decisions automatically meant boring fights. His fights were so good you didn’t want a finish, you didn’t want them to end. To this day, his three fight stretch in 2007 against Frankie Edgar, Clay Guida and Thiago Tavares has to be up there with the best anyone’s ever had in terms of fight quality. A hat-trick of solid gold bangers. For a time I thought the Guida one from Belfast was the best fight I’d ever seen. Mad little bastards. Can’t believe that fight is gonna be twenty years old next June. Twenty! That crop of Lightweights in 2006/07 don’t get enough love outside of old head geeks like us for my liking. A lot of people forget and newer fans probably don’t even realise that the UFC actually binned the 155 division a few years before this. When they brought it back in 2006, I think a lot of it was because they wanted to rekindle the Pulver vs Penn thing, and they quickly capitalised on that by having them coach TUF (great season, by the way) in 07. But they also filled the division up with a bunch of really fun fighters. The likes of Frankie Edgar, Tyson Griffin, Clay Guida, Roger Huerta, Spencer Fisher, Sam Stout, Melvin Guillard, Joe Lauzon etc. You also had Nate Diaz, Gray Maynard, Kenny Florian, Joe Stevenson and so on. They focused on giving the division depth and it really paid off in the long run. Even now 20-odd years later, while other weight classes have had their hot periods and their lulls, Lightweight has stayed pretty consistent throughout a few generations of 155ers. Shamelessly plugging my own thread here but @John Matrix if you’re on a MMA nostalgia kick, I don’t know if you saw this thread from a few years ago but I actually reviewed my ‘Top 50 Fights of 2000-09’ here, spanning UFC, Pride, Strikeforce, WEC, K-1 HEROS, Cage Rage, the lot… Chances are a lot of the pics and gifs are dead now but you might enjoy having a look through that lot. Plenty of Bravosmen©️to be found in there. Probably some glaring omissions but it was more of a loose Top 50 done for the love of the game really. Edited July 19 by wandshogun09 Quote
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted July 19 Paid Members Posted July 19 Ahh that Griffin/Guida fight is a special one for me. Watched that show live at at mates house with a shit ton of cider, one of my favorite experiences watching a show. Sure Guida walked out to Alkaline Trio's 'Stupid Kid' that night. Guida's walkouts were legendary. Quote
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted July 19 Paid Members Posted July 19 (edited) Yeah that Belfast show was on Box Office in prime time over here and I remember I was also on the piss watching Griffin vs Guida. I remember I was in a shit place mentally at the time and turned to drink. Watched that show round my mate’s (now my brother in law) and my future wife was there, years before we got together, and I’m ashamed to say I was such a mess back then that I don’t even remember meeting her that night. She said she thought I was a twat 🤣 but yeah, Griffin vs Guida was the real bright spot of that card. Looking up the card now, I don’t remember many being particularly arsed about the Rich Franklin vs Yushin Okami headliner, and definitely not the Forrest Griffin vs Hector Ramirez co-main. Edited July 19 by wandshogun09 Quote
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted July 19 Paid Members Posted July 19 I keep meaning to go back and watch old fights, this thread may finally inspire me to do so. Quote
Jacko Posted July 20 Posted July 20 For me I loved Kendall grove from the TUF season 3 thought with his height and Muay Thai he would be a force in the middleweight division Quote
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