For me, Maurice Smith was the first striker to show that strikers can win against a high level grappler. I still remember when all of us doing MT were watching his fight with Conan Silveira and erupting when he knocked out Conan. It was us strikers vs grapplers, and we finally got a win!
There were a bunch of mind blowing fights back in the day when NHB was mostly just tough guys scrapping. Todays professionalism and athleticism standards are crazy compared to the first 5-10 years.
Tank vs Matua
This isn’t pro wrestling is what my young mind was thinking.
Mo was pretty good. He had a good defensive guard that he used to tire people out and get a standup. He benefited from new ufc rules and BJM standup.
Everyone’s number one should by Royce if we’re all being honest
Fair point, I knew it was either going to be Shamrock or Royce as I had seen the Gracie fights and Pancrase matches before and had a few practice sessions with wrestlers. I reckoned Ken’s mass would get him the win but fuck was I wrong 
The first guys I remember blowing my mind were Ruas and then Vitor. Up to that point there was a lot of rhetoric about striking not being effective.
Royce pulling off that triangle against Severn.
Royce Gracie.
Pedro the rock Rizzo
Whoops fixed edit
In MMA it was Royce.
He didn’t end up being my personal all-time favorite as the sport evolved. But he changed my life, and I hold his initial UFC run in the highest regard to this day.
In kickboxing it was Dennis Alexio.
Saw him fight live and gravitated towards his powerful/aggressive style.
In boxing it was Mike Tyson, for obvious reasons.
probably vitor
he was 19, they listed him as bjj bb and 10 x greco roman champ
sounded like a hell of a grappler
then he ko’d everyone with fast hands
i remember thinkin he would rule mma for a decade
Big Nog coming back from beat downs and body slams to armbar and finish a 2x larger man in Sapp which I didn’t know was possible. This was basically my introduction to mma
Ruas.
First guy I remember seeing in a tournament that won by subs and standup
Who did you see Dennis fight?
probably vitor. he was 19, they listed him as bjj bb and 10 x greco roman champ sounded like a hell of a grappler then he ko’d everyone with fast hands I remember thinkin he would rule mma for a decade
Royce, of course.
Although, when Bas beat Randelman, I was pretty blown away there too…
Royce completely changed my perspective when he beat all the physical freaks in all the early UFCs.
