Why Is It That UFC Legends Always Have To Have One More Fight?

Alright... I may be a little late to be writing about this, but better late than never. Ive felt this way for years but have just found this site recently and would like to voice my oppinion on the subject. It seems that every time somebody gets inducted into the UFC hall of fame, although very deserving of the spot, they tend want to return. This has to be stopped. It is runing legacies.

We will start with the guy that may very well be the greatest fighter in UFC history. He showed everyone in the world (or at least the people watching UFC at the time)that size simply doesnt matter. This guy walked into the first ever UFC tournament, looked at all the haters and non-believers and said bring it on. The man won his first 8 fights in the UFC, including the first 2 UFC tournaments, a win over Ken Shamrock (I'll get to him later), and all by these unknown things called submissions.Well not unknown but certainly surprising to see in bare kunckle brawls. The mas first ever loss was in a fight that never occurred because he injured himself in a fight with Kimo Leopoldo earlier in the night. The next time he would walk away without the win, the match was declared a draw becasue of a lack of judges. Yes ladies a gentlemen, a LACK OF JUDGES. By far the dumbest thing Ive ever heard, that is worse than 2 guys knocking each other out at the exact same time.

I will now hop forward to January 16th 2006. On this night Royce Gracie was inducted into the UFC hall of fame. A well deserved award for not losing a single UFC fight that he actually fought in. Royce said "This is my house, I built it" a very accurate statement to say the least. But on this same night it was announced that Royce was also going to come back. Why? Why would a man that was just inducted into the hall of fame want to come back, and to fight a guy that is 7 years younger, has more experiance in the sport, (yea, Matt Hughes has and had more than double the amount of fights than Royce) has won 17 of his last 18 fights, and just simply phenominal. Not to mention he has been the welterweight champ for 19 of the previous 24 months.

I really believe that Royce will be remembered as the old guy that came back and got his tail handed to him by Matt Hughes. Its not my viewpoint, but all the people that were new to the sport at the time and never took the time to watch Royces early fights, will only have this to remember him by. Not to mention that he tested positive for anabolic steroids the very next year after a win. His legacy is tainted because he couldnt stay away.

Next up is Ken Shamrock. This man could have been remembered as the "Worlds Most Dangerous Man", he really could have. But he ruined his mma stature by doing 2 things. He left the sport for 4 years from 1996-2000. Why? well 2 of those years were spent wasting away as a mid-card talent in the then WWF. The highlight of his time there, he won the intercontinental championship. Thats it. And probably 10% of the WWF fans, knew what Kens job was before this. He was a 23-5-2 mma phenomenon, a former King of Pancrase, and a UFC superfight champ, defending that title twice before losing it to Dan Severn.

But not even Ken Shamrock could stay away from the sport. Starting in 2000, Ken would begin to hack away at his legendary status with an axe, and with the help of Tito Ortiz, he got to bury that legacy. In his first fight in 4 years Ken came away with a victory by tko in the first round, it took him almost 10 minutes to dispatch his opponent but he did it. This fight would later turn out to be a tell tale sign of how Kens next 7 out of 9 fights would end. All would end in the first round. Ken would go 1-1 on his next 2 fights, losing in 6 minutes due to exhaustion, yes "The Worlds Most Dangerous Man" got tired in 6 minutes.

Ken Shamrock would go 1-7 in his next 8 fights including 3 losses to Tito, 1 to Rich Franklin, and a KO loss only 5 months ago. Ken went from 24-5-2 to being 26-13-2 in a matter of 8 years. All because he had to keep fighting.

I am now going to talk about 1 guy that just narrowly avoided becoming the guy that had to come back to UFC. Mark Coleman. The inventor of GnP, my favorite mma strategy, and he was also the guy that really showed how dominant wreslters can be in mma. Makr won his first 6 fights in the UFC, including 2 tournaments and being crwoned the first UFC Heavyweight champ. He would lose that title in his first defense and then lose in his next 2 fight. But at least he lost to good fighters. Pete Williams, credited with that brutal kick to Colemans face, one of my personal favorite KO's, and Pedro Rizzo

He would move on to dominate in Pride and even win the Openweight Grand Prix in 2000.This guy had the grapefriuts to step in the ring with Mirko Cro Cop, Big Nog, and Fedor. He even stepped in the ring with Fedor twice. Thats insane. He lost to all 3 guys, and both times he fought Fedor, 3 by submission, 1 by KO. But thats not the point. This guy is a legend, but he almost made the same mistake as Royce. He got inducted, and then announced a fight. WTF? And we all know who he was scheduled to fight so I'm not even going to say his name, Cough Cough...Brock Lesnar...Cough.

Now he is supposedly in talks to fight Shogun. That sneaky bastard. He is making a smart decision. Hes not like Ken who wanted to fight Tito again to prove he could beat him, and then again for the same reason, hes not like Royce, fighting a guy he knows he cant beat just for the huge payday (Im sure thats not the reason but if I were him thats the only reason Id do it). No, Mark wants to fight a guy he has already beaten. Albeit, he only won due to a broken arm Shogun suffered taking down Coleman, but this guy can now come back and say, "Yea I lost to Shogun, but at least I already beat him." Ken nor Royce can say that.

Now the only guy that has been inducted into the UFC HOF that has actually upped his legend, is Randy Couture. The seemingly ageless 45 year old that got inducted to the HOF, having won 1 UFC tournament,  winning the UFC heavyweight belt on 3 separate occasions, defending the title 3 times, and also won the Light Heavyweight title 2 times(3 if you count him winning the interim title). He got inducted, called out the entire heavyweight divison, and destroyed 2 of its top fighters before demanding UFC sign Fedor or he walks.

I take back what I said about improving his legend. He is now the guy that dominated 2 different divisions for 10 years before walking out on the company for not signing a top free agent. I believe that Randy Couture is one of the top 5 fighters in UFC history, but I cant see how he could just walk out on contractual obligations with the company that made you into a household name, all because they didnt meet your demands. Now, he might as well just retire because theres no way UFC will allow the fight to happen anywhere except in an octagon, and right now, Fedor has contractual obligations himself and with the money he is getting paid, he probably wants nothing to do with the UFC.

I think that the UFC should implement a rule stating that if you are inducted into the Hall Of Fame, like in other sports, your career has to be over. If they dont you are going to see guys like Chuck Liddell go away for 2 years, get inducted, and say he wants to fight the champion. Without this rule UFC legends are just going to ruin there legacy.