Quality Wins: Hoffman vs. Ruas, Kerr, Abbott, Gracie

Who has more wins over top opponents (guys who were champions or top 5 contenders in their weight class or higher): Bobby Hoffman or his legendary contemporaries--Marco Ruas, Mark Kerr, Tank Abbott and Rickson Gracie--combined?


I'll go with the legendary Bobby Hoffman. I think you'll have trouble matching wins over Ricco Rodriguez, Heath Herring, Alistair Overeem (and arguably Eric Pele) with those other guys, but give it a try. And, if I'm right, why isn't Bobby Hoffman as much or more of a legend than those contemporary fighters?

well rickson gracie has the infamous 400-1 grappling record...plus his last name his gracie so that's why he is famous. marco ruas is apparantly a legend of the street and mad his claim to fame outside of MMA for the most part so that's why he is famous. as most people know i dislike tank abbot, but he is famous for having absolutely no MMA training and going in there and putting on entertaining fights. it was really the quality of the fights themselves, not of his opponents that made him famous. mark kerr beat randy couture in wrestling back at college and was a division I champion plus the 220 lbs freestyle champion. that coupled with the fact that he is a known weightlifter and ADCC combatant is the reason he is famous. Pretty much (besides abbot) these guys were known for their accolades outside of MMA and the fact that they competed in MMA later is the reason they are known in the MMA community. abbot was just exciting and he has a unique story.

also, a counter-argument could be that hoffman beat those fighter you mentioned before they were truly skilled. no one knew about herring or ricco when hoffman beat them, so maybe that's why he isn't as recognized. either way, you make good points and i agree that he should be more recognized then he is.

EDIT: and also, did hoffman beat a ninja like Ruas did...i didn't think so

He was 0-2 in the UFC and never fought in PRIDE. And even currently, he hasn't been affiliated with any of the bigger MMA organizations out there like UFC, WEC, Elite XC, BodogFight, Strikeforce, etc.

He also hasn't had more than a 3 fight win streak since 2000.

He stays away from the big shows, and had his big wins outside of the UFC, back when it was the only organization with any level of national public exposure.

Not taking anything away from his abilities or wins; just hashing out why he's not well known.

EDIT: I guess you weren't really talking about him not being as well known, moreso about having more name wins than the other guys.