MMA Linker

[J D]

Hey guys,

Thanks for agreeing to join the team. Take a moment to introduce yourself and your experience as a MMA fan.

[hawdrigoh]

Gentlemen,

Looking forward to this. I remember the old rankings and the discussion they created were pretty good times.

I've enjoyed MMA for a long time but my experience as a real MMA fan probably started with Sakuraba, Big Nog, Fedor etc and continues today with far too many fighters to list. I used to train for a while but had to give it up due to time and injury issues (never competed at any sort of decent level). MMA is probably my favorite sport to watch and that isn't going to change any time soon.

[Indra]

Hi! I've had a general interest in martial arts since I was a teen, mainly sparked by my friends at the time and a series of fairly terrible and unintentionally hilarious martial arts movies (Jalil Merhi, Billy Blanks, Van Damme, Segal, Chuck Norris, Don Wilson, etc.) I'm also a pretty big Bruce Lee fan and have read The Tao of Jeet Kune Do many times.

My first experience with MMA was UFC 1. My friends and I went in on the PPV, taped it and watched it several times. We went on to watch UFC 2 and 3, but due to various circumstances stopped following it shortly thereafter (keep in mind, this was when the Internet was brand new, and I couldn't afford a pc back then anyway). My interest in martial arts eventually led me to take some classes in Wing Chun and, later, some Jeet Kune Do, Muay Thai and Kali, but various circumstances never really let me pursue it nearly as much as I wanted to.

Fast forward to about 2006 when I ran across a highlight video of the one and only Fedor Emilianenko. (Remember when this site used to host links to fight videos? ). I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I'd seen MMA, but this was something else completely. I was totally blown away. Solely because of that, I started paying attention to MMA again, mainly PRIDE, but PRIDE wasn't very much longer for this world so I branched out to Strikeforce, Affliction, WEC, UFC, etc. and ended up visiting here regularly starting in about 2008. I lurked for a year or so before I finally decided to make an account and post something.

I think I am unusual in that I am a fan of the sport of MMA, but a bigger fan of individual athletes, also in that I have a strong tendency to ignore bouts between unranked fighters. Watching two random fighters doesn't do anything for me at all, really, since I have no personal stake in the outcome. My attitude is basically that I want to watch the best, especially the best of the best (which is another terrible martial arts movie series starring Eric Roberts!), so let me know when you get to the top and I'll start paying attention. I don't waste my time with anything but the big leagues, which these days is basically the UFC. I'm not really happy about that, but that's another topic.

Like hawdrigoh, I remember the rankings here, too, and that they sparked some very lively discussions. Hopefully they will again. I am truly honored to be a part of that now and would never have guessed that I would be chosen to have anything to do with it.
Fist bump, fellow linkers!

[hawdrigoh]

Very cool Indra. I remember thinking UFC 1 was a joke and wanted nothing to do with it . It wasn't until a few years later that I started to really appreciate MMA. I also visited the forums for a while before joining (when one finally had to be a member to watch videos). I remember first stumbling upon Linker on the morning after Lesnar-Mir 1. I was traveling and in a hotel room desperately trying to find a video of the fight lol. Good times.

[Mohawk Jesus]

I feel like a secret agent lol. Great job JD.

I remember watching early UFCs at my friends house. His dad had that black box that allowed him to watch PPV for free. I didn't really get into it until I was in the Marines and I used to buy the dvds and vhs tapes of old fights. I loved watching Mark Coleman and Kerr destroy people. I really got into it when the internet took more hold and I was able to follow it more closely. I trained a bit of Judo and competed in some NAGA tournaments. Never to a great deal of success. I am planning for the new year to sign the family (wife and two older kids <5 and 7>) for BJJ. I found a great place by my house and am pretty excited.

I was part of the original ranking team and really enjoyed it. I agree with you all about the lively debates, which is one of the reasons I wanted to bring it back. More MMA discussion.


So since this is a secret we will need to elect a spokesman to post the rankings and answer any direct questions on how we reached our conclusions, like the NCAA does. I'd cast my vote for JD.

[J D]

I've already asked Danny to be the spokesperson because he's very active, a damn good admin and really likes this place.

[Indra]

I'm curious, how is this going to work exactly?

[J D]

Still working out the kinks.

Likely: We'll have a separate thread each month for every weight class.

In that thread, we will each rank out top 10 fighters in each weight class, assigned a score to each (10 for #1, 1 for #10).

Someone, likely Danny, will then calculate the collective scores and come up with the official Linker rankings. He will then publish those rankings on the website.

[Mohawk Jesus]

I've already asked Danny to be the spokesperson because he's very active, a damn good admin and really likes this place.

That's a good choice.

[Indra]

You guys never saw my Top P4P List, back before it disappeared, did you?

https://web.archive.org/web/20130301044 ... ndforpound