(Photo by Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)
They used to grab our attention, neck crank it and pummel it unmercifully when the landscape of mixed martial arts was primordial and new. They were the lumbering giants, fantastic titans and ancient gods that did battle in the “before times”. Their names were spoken with wide eyes and much gesticulation by those whose parents let them rent UFC videos.
Can you name one man in mixed martial arts today who would be willing to sign on to fight Paul Varelans, Tank Abbott and Oleg Taktarov (all in their prime) in one night? What if the fights are scheduled to last fifteen minutes, eighteen minutes and thirty minutes each with no breaks for rounds? What if there are no weight limits? Relax all the modern rules about knees and elbows and what’s left is a gauntlet no man in his right mind would sign up for.
Almost fifteen years has passed since then. The sport has evolved at breakneck speed into something worlds away from the prehistoric spectacle of Ultimate Ultimate 1995. The fighters, too, are a different breed of athlete. Gone are the days when a combatant had no idea what to prepare for stylistically. The styles themselves have begun to blend into a great amalgamation of the most effective methods to win as permitted under the modern set of rules. Today’s fighter trains wrestling, ju jitsu, boxing and muy thai with equal dedication. The modern mixed martial artist is part athlete, part strategist, and part scientist.
If you’ve lost touch with the originals, I’m here to help. In this series we’ll catch up with some of the legends of MMA, starting with the winner of Ultimate Ultimate 1995, Dan “The Beast” Severn.
Severn burst onto the MMA scene at UFC 4. He was a four-time freestyle wrestling All-American at Arizona State and his entry into the octagon marked the first time such a decorated wrestler would try his hand at the fledgling sport. Though he didn’t win the event (he lost in the finals to Royce Gracie), he would return at UFC 5 and completely dominate, winning three matches in just eight minutes of total fight time.
UFC 6 would see him lose to Ken Shamrock in the events Superfight, just prior to his tournament victory at Ultimate Ultimate 95. He would later avenge the loss to Shamrock at UFC 9, leaving a potential rubber match that hasn’t materialized… yet.
Severn’s legacy to MMA is wrestling. The first time "The Beast" suplexed Anthony Macias, the writing was on the wall. Wrestlers were here to stay.
In his wake, fighters like his protégé Don Frye, Mark Coleman and Randy Couture would continue to dominate by using their wrestling ability to man-handle their opponents, control them and pound them out.
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