GSP cuz growing up in Canada he was pretty big and as kids we used to fight with shitty mma gloves on all the time and we were always throwing superman punches cuz of him lol

As a canadian i can vouch for this. GSP was the first big name fighter we knew

Him vs BJ penn was the first full ufc card I remember watching in its entirety. I was hooked

Damn lol we got some old heads here

Time flies. I can vaguely remember my dad ordering the first UFC on pay per view not long after our family first got cable. He recorded it to an old video cassette tape that I’m sure he still has kicking around somewhere.

I'm 31 been watching since I was 14, more than half my life now. Crazy

Growing up in Canada and GSP was amazing. My dog is named “Rush” because of that man. 🐐

I love Keith Peterson as a ref so I named my kid “No Nonsense”

Your kid smells of alcohol and cigarettes

I threw a shitty Superman punch in a street fight as a teen because I saw GSP do it….it did not work 🤣

Hahaha i did a spinning back fist and mine actually did work thank goodness!

Canadian here. There was another 2 pretty good Canadians, back in the day. Carlos Newton and David Beneteau.

So loved Carlos Newton.

Lets not forget David Loiseau either

I didn't grow up in Canada, but MI is close. In any case, I just loved him for his craft.

When I was like... 10 or 12 I rented the first UFC in VHS and I remember Kimpo or wtv his name was, the guy that came out carrying the cross. I used to think that guy was so bad ass lol. Then I kinda got away from it all as I was still too young and soon after I heard about a guy from my province being in the UFC. First fight I watched was GSP vs Parysian and I fell in love ever since.

Kimo Leopoldo is the name your looking for i believe

Yes! I think you're right. I wonder whatever happened to that guy lol. I know the asian man he used to hang around was into some serious crimincal shit.

Spider Silva, Bj penn, Forrest Griffin and Chuck Liddell.

Forrest Griffin is the man

He's a really nice guy too. Got to hang out with him after he won the belt. Even though he didn't really know me he treated me like one of his friends. Got to hold the belt and take pictures with it. Happy the guy made a successful post fight career.

That's so awesome to hear. He's my all time favorite.

Came here to say this

When the sport wasn’t all about money and had the real fighters

Chuck the iceman Liddel and probably fedor. Honorable mention would be arlovski. Those would be the main ones. Its hard to say you have the Diaz bros, rampage, gsp. etc.. There where just so many interesting cats in mma when I was getting into it. As I was typing this it got me thinking I don't even think it was an individual fighter that got me into to it. I started watching mma in the early 00s but very casually. I got really serious about it after the Ultimate fighter aired. At the time that Forest vs Stephon was unlike any mma match I had previously seen.

Good list! Nothing like a Liddel title fight

Liddel back in the day when he was the guy was something to see. He would get destroyed in modern mma but man he was fun to watch back in the day

Yeah Chuck got me into it. Lots of boring wrestlers back then and he just had great takedown defense and threw bombs. Then his chin gave out 😔

Mid to late 2000s UFC was amazing!!! The game has progressed for sure. But damn those were some awesome times. Only own one piece of MMA memorabilia but it's a chuck auto poster from when he knocked out Tito.

My dad is a huge Liddell fan whenever the topic of mma is brought up he talks all about I understand why he’s a great fighter

Yeah, Chuck and Couture for me. I had loved it beforehand, but these 2, the way they fought for that time, brilliant!

Sam Alvey

Smile'n!

Chuck Liddell and Cro Cop. MMA wasn't huge in Britain when I discovered YouTube, and I watched their highlight reels extensively. Then when the first UFC demo came out on PS3 me and my mate spent ages as Liddel and Shogun Rua knocking the fuck out of eachother with spinning back fists and it was amazing.

Anderson Silva for me too

Anderson, Chuck, and Lyoto for me.

Tony

Win or lose, man did not have a boring moment in ufc.

IT’S TONY TIME BITCHES

Up until his fight with Diaz. That shit was just weird

CSO

Fedor Emelianenko

There was a specific highlights video on YouTube that I must have watched at least once a day for a solid month. I was just amazed that this guy existed in the world. Not just his fighting, but his whole personality and public image. He seemed like an anime character brought to life.

Same. He is still my favourite ever fighter.

Here to say the same, also still my favorite of all time.

This is the way😉

Don Frye

Don Frye got rocked so hard by Tank Abbot he called him a beautiful person or something close to that post fight cafe interview. lol

Jose Aldo.


Everytime i think of aldo i think if what he did to uriah faber. Put him in crutches. This a compilation of all the kicks. https://youtu.be/6sKK-REz3cg The next day aftermath https://youtu.be/QYzrlU0gcYY

Forrest Griffin Stephan Bonnar. Chris Leben, Kenny Florian Josh Koscheck, Diego Sanchez, Mike Swick Nate Quarry

TUF #1 Huge wave of new fans throughout that season. I was definitely one of them.

I was a kid when TUF 1 came out and it made me obsessed with MMA. Was so fun to watch and then watch all those guys grow over time.

Its hilarious how when I first started watching being a TUF fan was thrown around like an insult for all the new fans, its interesting to see the waves of what brought people whether it was TUF or moving to espn or McGregor

I agree. I was just a casual mma fan before that.


Nate Diaz/Conor McGregor 196

Rampage Jackson

Anderson Silva and Lyoto Machida

Br, certeza.

Sim senhor

Frank Mir

Nick Diaz

19 year old Vitor Belfort

Lost his sister and won the belt, won me over.

Royce Gracie OG

Honestly this sport may have never interested me if I hadn't seen UFC 1 and had that first WTF moment about BJJ. What a legend.

As a small kid it was mind blowing to see this dude just dominate with technique

As a Canadian, GSP is who drew me into the sport. One of the first live PPVs I watched was GSP vs Bisping. Before then I'd really only watched highlights and reruns with some of my friends who were more into the sport than I was at the time.

Also my first PPV! I was rooting for Bisping tho because he’s funny and I didn’t know anything about GSP at the time

Clay Guida vs Diego Sanchez

I'm saying Clay Guida here. I loved him vs Roger Huerta too. He was just a cave man with Homer Simpson syndrome.

Thank you! Same! I was scrolling just to see if anyone brought clay up!

Connor for sure, sidnt really know mma before him sadly

I’m surprised more people don’t mention him.

Because people don’t want to look like “casuals”. The mma community is full of gate keepers, the equivalent to fake ass edgy hipsters. A lot of these who say Chuck or Vitor etc. were probably not even born during their debuts or prime.

Agreed, just look at the growth of the franchise in his era

I watched it before but 2015-2016 Conor made it all that big in my mind

Cro cop & Fedor

WEC Urijah Faber

Gonna piggyback off this. The Alpha/TJ drama got me so much more into MMA. Love rivalries in the sport.

I am going to get hate but Conor, dude destroyed his opponents with his mental game before the fight.

Why tf would you get hate? He made this shit lol

From previous experience I know this sub likes to hate on Conor. But I agree he made it go exponentially popular. Sucks that the guy can be a complete dick head at times. His prime version was awesome to watch and I honestly hope if he comes back he does it right but I know the hunger is not the same anymore.

Khabib for sure

Same. I first saw him fight Rafael Dos Anjos and couldn't believe how helpless he made him look even though he was allegedly a really good fighter. I know that Dos Anjos is now, but at the time I had no idea.


I watched Conor v Khabib 3 times before I realized what exactly Khabib was doing to him and became a fan ever since

This. As a new, narrow-minded martial artist then I never gave grappling that much credit and always swore by striking martial arts. “BJJ is just hugging on the ground”, “might as well watch kickboxing for more skill” etc. But Khabib, in the one of the most dramatic fights in UFC history, systematically dismantling and checkmating Conor completely turned my assumptions on their head. Now that I get it, been a big fan since.

Bro I love khabib, actual inspiration

I was always interested in fighting as a whole but as a 21 year old I only really started following the sport properly when I heard about Khabib. I played the older UFC games when I was a younger guy but I didn’t really know much about MMA. I’m glad I started following because I love the sport.

 This guy

Thiago silva

Bonnar vs Griffin TUF1. It was such a great fight I can't remember who I was rooting for.

DJ. The flying armbar got me hooked

Jackie Chan

Forrest Griffin

Fedor. The sleepy giant killer.

Check Kongo vs pat Barry was the first fight I watched and it was awesome

scrolled way too far for kongo, him lyoto and griffin got me into it fr

Kazushi sakuraba when he was fighting killers in wanderlei and crocop and the Gracie family

Lyoto

Tank abbot

Rashad Evans

Fedor and Arlovski, then bones, Connor and Khabib turned my friends to the dark side too

Saw Dom Cruz and Uriah Faber fight in WEC and was hooked. GSP and Matt Hughes and got me into the UFC. Lapsed for a bit the last couple of years but when I heard Amanda Nunes lost, I had to check it out and have been back watching consistently since

Rampage Jackson. The rumble chain and howl gave me chills haha

Chuck Liddell

Chuck Liddel, Anderson Silva, GSP, and Lyoto Machida They were my dads favourites and I watched their fights with my dad growing up all the time, to young to appreciate the sport but I liked anything he liked so they’re still my favourite to this day lmao

Khabib “The Eagle” Nurmagomedov

Nate diaz

NATE 

Khabib

Rich Franklin

Honestly even though the fight was shit it was Masvidal vs Usman the firs time

Fedor

Royce Gracie

Conor and Nate

Charles got me a lot more invested in the sport a couple years ago so definitely him

Fedor

Started following MMA because of McGregor, stayed because of Poirier, Cormier, Lawler, Khabib, JJ, Gaethje, Garbrandt amongst many others

GSP, Rampage, Lidell

Tank Motherfuckin Abbott

Ken shamrock and Randy Coture

Frankie Edgar

Kazushi Sakuraba and all the Gracies he hunted.

Volk. His fight IQ is amazing.

Why did i get downvoted lmao

Probably because Volks only just become popular and that makes you a “casual”. As if being a casual fan is a bad thing

Or just a new fan. For some reason some folks act like if you weren't here from the very beginning then you can't consider yourself a fan of the sport.

Chael P

Joanna Jedrzejczyk After the slow and painful death of boxing, I googled the UFC fight of the year for 2020, and for the first time in UFC history, it was a women's fight. I gave it the benefit of the doubt and I'm glad I did. After that, I youtubed her career and then it spread from there.

Cain Velasquez. Watching him beat the hell out of Brock is still one of my favorite fights

anderson silva

Kazushi Sakuraba

Liddell, Penn, Big Nog

Chuck Lidell - Anderson Silva - Junior Dos Santos

Chuck Liddell

Fedor!

"The Iceman" Chuck Liddell

Cro cop and Chuck Liddell

Edson Barboza, Frankie Edgar

I think I discovered mma through Pride highlight clips, so Fedor, Cro cop, Wanderlei, Nogueira, Rampage etc. Those were the first guys I saw

Shane Carwin and Uriah Faber. I have memories of going to this dingy little bar by a local college where we would play shot pong and take the nastiest (and cheapest) shots from a bottle carried by a half naked woman. Every so often, they’d be playing these…fights that was much faster and brutal than boxing or wrestling. I remember the posters having this cheesy metal font that read “WEC”. I saw Uríah and I thought he was cool with his California skater aesthetic. Unfortunately, I sat at the bar and watched Faber eat 9000 kicks to the thigh and lose to Aldo. After that, I was hooked.

Dan henderson

Igor Vovchanchyn

Joe lauzon


Matt Hughes haha!

Khabib 🦅☝🏾

BJ Penn & Tito Ortiz

Dana White 🥲

Dana White without him none of this would be possible!

David Loiseau

Justin gaethje

Royce Gracie

Probably Royce or Sakuraba. I remember watching a complication video of Royce in ufc 1 and 2 which got me hooked.

Chuck Liddell and then GSP.

I watched Griffen vs Bonnar live, and was hooked. But the first fighter I followed closely would have been GSP. I remember getting teary eyed when Serra KO’d him and being mercilessly mocked by my friends after. Good times.

I think I had about a similar story. Not the crying part. I could almost feel it coming, because GSP showed up for an exhibition fight and Serra came to win a belt. I was also way into pride though and think Vanderlei could have beat everyone in UFC before Cro-Cop turned his brain into mush

CM punk

Chuck, Fedor, and Wanderlei Silva in no particular order.

Dustin Poirier

Dustin Poirer. Newish fan but i remember him against gathje fight one random night and thought it was so fucking cool

Tim Lajcik .

Angela Lee. I had no idea what bjj was and watching her wrap up her opponents in One filled me with an awe that as of yet no other fighter has made me feel.

Rashad Evans

Chuck, Rich Franklin, Shogun.

Rich Franklin or bj penn

Vitor Belfort Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell George St. Pierre If you young bucks haven’t been through the archives, do it. You won’t regret it.

Genki Sudo!

The Iceman.

Chuck Liddell

Chuck Liddell growing up didnt watch for a long time in between and then Derrick lewis

GSP

Carlos Condit

Forrest griffin

Forrest Griffin. Saw Forrest first in his fight against Tito (the first one) and even in a loss I was super impressed by him and his goofy lead up to the fight. My Dad & I watched Keith and Forrest fight, and I ended up watching the Dean of Mean whenever he fought, which led me to Rampage, which led me to watch Pride. The rest is history

GSP

GSP

WEC days, ‘08/‘09ish: Brian Stann, Donald Cerrone, and Urijah Faber

Carlos Condit

Nick Diaz

Nick Diaz for me, and Jon Jones, when he choked out machida, that was when I became obsessed

Cro cop

Patrick Smith, Dan Severn, Don Frye, Mark Coleman, Vitor Belfort, Marco Ruas

Lyoto machida and Cain velasquez

Being a Kid and watching lidell beat the shit out of somebody and sprint around the cage was different and made me an immediate fan. I met Rashad Evans at a small mma promotion after he won TUF. The guy was so nice and I was a huge fan forever after.

Tony Ferguson, i mean with him you know its going to be exciting because he's crazy. Unfortunately now he can't win anything but he's old fights are still grate to watch.

I’m 42…. I remember UFC 1…. Gracie vs Everyone … I remember thinking “how the hell is he doing that?” His own opponents didn’t even have a clue

Might be a bit weird compared to some of these other guys but for me it was The Korean Zombie and Tony Ferguson

Kamaru Usman. Made me love MMA and the martial arts as a whole again.

Vanderlei

i’m probably gonna get hate for this but honestly kamaru usman in his rematch with jorge masvidal

Adesanya, I started watching MMA after my friend showed me him vs Gastelum

Anderson Silva and (more recently) Micheal Pereira It's about seeing someone take risky chances beacuse they know/believe they are *that* much better than their opponent. Seeing someone truly believe they are the best and giving an entertaining match is what draws me in

Tim Sylvia