Sherdog’s Top 10: Greatest Pride FC Fighters

10. Igor Vovchanchyn (tie)

Vovchanchyn is a true legend of the sport and one of the very best fighters of the 1990s. Despite being a mere 5 feet, 8 inches tall and never weighing more than about 220 pounds, he would battle 350-pound-plus giants in the early days of MMA, have multiple fights in a night, and almost always win, already amassing a record of 30-2-1 at only 25 years old, when he debuted in Pride. Vovchanchyn was a very good kickboxer who developed some wrestling and ground skills, throwing brutal punches with reckless abandon that many consider a major inspiration for Fedor Emelianenko. Vovchanchyn had early success in Pride, but as MMA evolved and improved, and Pride itself became more talent-rich, he started racking up losses, which is why I didn't include him in my own top 10. Vovchanchyn began an impressive 9-1 in Pride, losing only to Mark Coleman in the finals of the 2000 Grand Prix. He defeated Carlos Barreto by decision, knocked out Gary Goodridge, pummeled Enson Inoue into a doctor stoppage between rounds, and won a dominant decision over “The Smashing Machine” Mark Kerr after their first fight was ruled a no contest due to illegal knee strikes when Kerr was in the four-point position. He also holds a win over Kazushi Sakuraba, though Sakuraba was 30 pounds lighter and had just come off his legendary 90-minute win over Royce Gracie earlier that night. After that, though, Vovchanchyn started losing. Knockout losses to Mirko Filipovic and Quinton Jackson are one thing, and one can even forgive being beaten by a much larger heavyweight Heath Herring, but Vovchanchyn was also beaten by Tra Telligman and choked out by Mario Sperry, a much lower caliber of fighters who weren't even bigger than him. In fact, with the exception of Sakuraba’s loss to Antonio Schembri, I can't recall a single loss for anyone else in our Top 10 as bad as either of those two. Vovchanchyn made a last-ditch effort to revitalize his career by dropping down to 205 pounds but found the competition even harder, winning a decision against Yuki Kondo before being guillotined in 80 seconds by Alistair Overeem, then being beaten by Kazuhiro Nakamura, another bad defeat. At that point, despite being only 32 years old but suffering from a number of injuries to his hands from the brutal bare-knuckle MMA fights of the 90s, the great Vovchanchyn retired.

10. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (tie)

My own personal pick for the 10th spot was the light heavyweight great who went by “Minotouro” but just as commonly called “Lil’ Nog” by affectionate old-school fans today. While not as accomplished as his bigger twin brother, whom we will see later in this list, people forget how good he was in Pride. An outstanding Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner, he developed even better boxing than his older brother, though his wrestling—especially defensively—was always lacking. He went 8-2 which is even more impressive when one considers the level of opposition he faced. He began 7-0 in the promotion, winning a close split decision over Guy Mezger, beating Kazuhiro Nakamura twice, once by armbar, soundly beating Kazushi Sakuraba, whom we will see later, winning a clear decision over Alistair Overeem and most impressively, armbarring Dan Henderson, whom we will also discuss later. Then, in one of the greatest fights in MMA history, Nogueira lost a fantastic duel to Mauricio Rua, yet another one of Pride's top legends. After that setback, he defeated Overeem again, this time by knockout. His Pride career ended with his lone blemish, being knocked out in 23 seconds by flash-in-the-pan Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou. Despite that bad loss, Nogueira had an excellent five-year career in Pride, including going 2-1 against fighters ranked well ahead of him on this list, and would likely have been favored back then against a few others.

10. Ricardo Arona (tie)

While I didn't have Arona on my list, I likely would have had it been extended to 11 fighters. Certainly, he is one of the most underrated and forgotten fighters in MMA history, despite some fantastic results against Pride's greatest legends. Arona's striking was lacking, largely relegated to some decent kicks, but he may have been the overall best grappler in MMA in his prime, with outstanding wrestling to go along with elite, world-class BJJ. While his final record of 8-4 doesn't seem so great, consider the opposition. Against fellow Top 10 inclusions, he took Olympic wrestler Dan Henderson down at will en route to easily beating him, and demolished Kazushi Sakuraba to force a doctor's stoppage, though it should be noted the Japanese fighter was much smaller. Arona was defeated by a legendary slam knockout by Quinton Jackson in a fight he had been winning, though he also has a fine victory over another excellent opponent in Murilo Rua. Arona’s greatest triumph, however, was defeating Wanderlei Silva at Pride Final Conflict 2005, the first time Silva had been beaten in his own weight class in over five years and 18 fights. Arona seemed poised to be an even greater legend, but he was brutally dissected by “Shogun” Rua later that night in the Grand Prix finals. After that, he lost a close rematch against Wanderlei Silva, finished Alistair Overeem with ground-and-pound inside of 5 minutes, and was then knocked out in 2 minutes by Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou, the same bad loss that his fellow 10th place inclusion, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, had fallen prey to a few weeks earlier. Nevertheless, for some enormous victories and mainly only losing to the very best, Arona should be remembered as a Pride great in his own right.

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