Two new names will be added to the short list of those inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame on July 10 as part of UFC's Fan Expo during UFC 100 weekend.To date, only five have earned the honor: Ken Shamrock, Royce Gracie, Dan Severn, Randy Couture and Mark Coleman.
The UFC has not released the names of the new inductees, but if I were to venture a guess, I would think that former UFC light-heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell is a lock for one of the slots. While Liddell has not officially retired (he's currently on vacation), UFC President Dana White has repeatedly stated "the Iceman" is done in the octagon.
The other honoree could possibly be the first man to enter the Hall who never previously fought in the octagon: the late Charles "Mask" Lewis. While some "purists" feel that the Hall of Fame should be for fighters only, Lewis' contributions to the sport are immense. Behind his TapouT brand, he sponsored a slew of fighters when there was little reason and almost no monetary reward for doing so, helping to keep MMA alive in times of dire circumstance. He spread his passion for the sport through a grassroots approach, making fans as he traveled the country as the sport's pied piper before tragically dying in a car accident in March.
In addition, Lewis was very close to both White and Zuffa co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta, and since the voting committee is essentially composed of those two, it stands to reason they would consider him to be part of their sport's Hall, even after adding his name to an octagon bumper where they say it will stay for as long as they run the UFC.
Other possibilities for induction include the late UFC middleweight champion Evan Tanner, who died last Septemer while hiking in a California desert, and to a lesser extent, Matt Hughes, who will surely someday be inducted but is still active. Hughes will fight Matt Serra on May 23's UFC 98, but has openly talked about retirement in the last year or so.
UFC 100's Fan Expo is the first such event in the company's history, taking place on July 10-11 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas.
If you had a vote, who would you elect into the UFC's Hall of Fame? Voice your opinion in the comments section below.
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
If I personally had to choose two members to join the UFC Hall of Fame at UFC 100, my votes are for Liddell (16-6 in UFC) and Tanner (11-6 in UFC), but "Mask" is equally deserving with everything he did for the sport outside the cage.
CHUCK AND TITO
lidell for sure. i think mask is deserving to go as a contributer. almost every sport has non athletes in thier hof including boxing(announcers,promoters,trainers,coaches,etc.) hughes will definetly go in someday, but i'm not sure tanner belongs. no offense to the man, but inducting him in would only be because he died young, before his time and he was a good fighter but not a great one. yes he was a champ, but so was dave terrel, and dave mene. he won the title when the competion was not so fierce and he came around to late to be considered a pioneer. other fighters who could be considered as pioneers that could get into the hof someday imo would be.
frank shamrock.
tank.
don frye.
pat militech.
tito(who i abhor) desreves to go in someday, but that will take alot of time to heal wounds.
also i think fighters that came over from pride that are hof worthy and should be inducted and are at the tail end of their careers, but have not fought in the ufc their whole careers are wandi,hendo and big nog. rampage and a.silva will get in on their ufc accomplishments alone someday. i think if they were going to induct tanner, they would have already done it, but if he doe sget in i won't complain. :)
Mark Coleman - former UFC HW champ, won the last couple UFC tournaments (i think), Pride 2000 GP champ.
Mark Kerr - former UFC HW champ, at one time considered the greatest fighter around. The Smashing Machine documentary also pretty damn good.
Frank Shamrock - one of the prototypical fighters
Miletich - accomplished both as fighter and coach
Evan Tanner - awesome beard and former MW champ
Jens Pulver - 1st UFC LW champ. He's still active, but not with the UFC
Don Frye - one of the first well-rounded fighters who was a judoka, boxer, and wrestler.
Also, the UFC should set up a Pride HoF, considering they own the name and it wouldn't bee too hard to choose. The only reason I cant think of why they wouldn't is because they don't want to give Fedor any more credit than they have too.
If they're going to induct non-fighters, I'd start with Big John McCarthy and Jim Brown. If they can induct signature moves, I'd start with Shonie Carter's Pimp Slap (excuse me, 'spinning back fist'), the only backhand ever known to knock out a future UFC champion, and maybe Keith Hackney's groin punch.
And if they want to go for humor, I'd also induct Anthony "Mad Dog" Macias and Fred Ettish into the Glass Joe wing, then induct Steve Jennum to see if anyone notices.
Don Frye and Murillo Bustamante. Chuck and Matt in about five years; Tito and Evan Tanner in four.
scottyo218, coleman is already in. i think it will be tanner and mask. too soon for liddell esp since we don't know for sure he's retired. i haven't thought about it till now but it's gonna be interesting to see what happens with tito getting in or not.
Most of the fighter being mentioned hardly fought in the ufc to be hall of famers. Some hall of famers fought little in the ufc but they were champions. Guys like Militech and Frank Shamrock are footnotes.
yea, just because Pat (Miletich) was a champion and the ufc was pratically built on his camp, why would they consider him... retro you should keep quiet. Pat is as good as anyone.
MFS
yeah i wouldn't mind seeing chuck in the HOF. "Mask" is very deserving as well. he helped the sport to what it is now. so My two votes are for them
I would like to see a consideration of Bas Rutten,Marice Smith,Evan Tanner,Don Frye,Dan Severn,Tank Abbot,Tito,Carlos Newton and Pedro Hizzo