Gabriel Gonzaga - he's an animal. If anyone ever deserved the title "Axe Murderer," it's Gonzaga. He may never become a champion, or even approach top contender's status again, but a fighter has to fill the back of their underwear a little when they hear that Gonzaga is their opponent. Aside from his debut, Gonzaga never fails to deliver a memorable fight in the UFC, and always has me at the edge of my seat. The Human Rights Council is certainly at the edge of their seats, whenever Gonzaga fights!
Junior dos Santos - I became a JDS nut hugger the second he knocked Werdum clean out. With just one punch, the screaming bloody murder hype on the Internet for Werdum crumbled. Since then, he has paved a road of complete destruction. This guy will be the future Heavyweight Champion, depending on how he can handle the wrestling of Lesnar, Velasquez and Carwin.
Cain Velasquez - an animal, as well. The guy has a determination that is absolutely unshakable at this point. In my opinion, of all the UFC Heavyweights, he has the very best shot of beating Lesnar. Lesnar dealing with Couture was one thing, but dealing with someone as fast, hungry, focused and as relentless as Velasquez is a completely different story. Hell, if Velasquez continues to evolve like he has, I'd wager that he could beat Fedor, too.
Brock Lesnar deserves a honorable mention. I've been a big Lesnar fan ever since his pro-wrestling days, and am floored by the impact he's made in only
2 years as a Mixed Martial Artist. Without a doubt, Brock Lesnar is the biggest name in the sport. Not only that, but he's scary as hell. Being that big is one thing, but being that size
AND having great technique on the ground? No wonder Mir is obsessing over yet another fight; Lesnar beat all of the sense out of Mir!
Dragonfoxy wrote:
I could have also picked Bas Rutten but I have not seen any fights of him as I just started looking at MMA but I did want to mention this legendary fighter Avoid Bas' UFC fights at all costs; he got the shit kicked out of him in both. You could probably chalk that up to him peaking while in Pancrase, as well as injuries. He managed to TKO TK, but received an completely undeserving, WTF-worthy decision (and therefore, the UFC Heavyweight Championship) over Kevin Randleman. Rutten winning a decision was an even bigger robbery than Machida winning a decision over Shogun.
The Pancrase stuff is good, but the talk of Pancrase being worked never dies down.