Best European Fighters

[PhatBoy]

Right. There's been lots of talk about the best US, the best Japanese, the best Brasilian fighters....

So let's talk about rising European fighters.. we all know Igor Vovchanchyn etc. But let's talk about the fighters we should keep our eye on who have yet to rise to the ranks of an MMA star.

Any suggestions? Who'll be the next ones?

[realkaps]

Not being from europe I have no idea about up and commers from there. Lee Murray is all I can think of besides the ones we all know like Fedor, CroCop, Igor, ect.......

[Fallout]

The biggest rising star from europe is Lee Maury. The best european fighter is Fedor. There isn't really any debate about that.

[PhatBoy]

Fedor, sure.. how about the other guy what's his name.. Sergei Kharitonov? The way I see it, is that both Kharitonov and Murray still hasn't shown their best. It's difficult to say how good they really are, except that they're good. Murray is naturally one hell of a boxer and has some ground skills as well, how good, I don't personally know yet. How far is he actually going in the ranks of UFC, hard to say at this point.

However Kharitonov impressed me in his las fight against Ninja. The bodyshots were excellent.. I don't believe he doesn't train boxing at all.. but I believe his ground skills should be very good, so match that with the boxing and .. we just haven't seen the best of him yet I suppose, so I would argue that there is a debate here who the rising star is. I think that Kharitonov now especially after beating Ninja, he will get more spotlight in Pride too. I don't know, maybe he was considered 'not exciting enough' of a fighter, but I bet now everyone wants to see him fight against the more experienced Schilt. It'll be interesting to see how he handles Semmy's reach, but I believe with his level of technique, he will handle it unless he gets caught in some of those punishing knees, front kicks and what not.

My point is, I think we haven't seen enough of the two gentlemen. If there was no competition from the other one, then sure we could say there's no competiton but I think there is a competition between these two for the best up and coming fighter as we speak.

[lightweight]

Baaas Roootaaaan!!!













(I know I spelled it wrong, and I know how to spell it too, as well as Canada so shut up kaps)

[Fallout]

Sergei Kharitonov really hasn't beaten anyone I consider a true threat to him. Sure, he fought Ninja, but Ninja was fighting at HW for the fight time and he didn't look comfortable at all there. Ninja was out of shape and very sloppy. Now, who else has he beat? None of his other opponets have a record above .500. He could definitly have the talent to become a top level fighter, but he isn't there yet.

[realkaps]

I was pretty impressed with Sergei, he may suprise alot of people in the tournament, and lightweight is correct. Bas Rutten was the best Europian fighter. Too bad he doesnt fight anymore.......

[PhatBoy]

Well naturally, I was going through the future stars who haven't yet established themselves ... But I think comparison to Murray is interesting.

kaps, yeah too bad Bas isn't fighting anymore.. he keeps himself in shape and maybe would be ready to fight some time but I think we all know that won't happen with the new commitments like the acting career etc.

Keep your heads up for Hansen though, he'll be the next Scandinavian force to come out. If you see his name anywhere, keep your eyes on it. He's extremely good and will get a shot at the big leagues sooner than later.

[Batman]

Andre Arlovsky is startin to look pretty damn good!

[PhatBoy]

oh yeah! Forgot totally about him...