Posted by higdon10
Tito/Shamrock 2. Was just a huge fight at the time. Maybe I'm way off base, just the first fight that came to mind



Posted by mrsmiley
A few ways I look at this. from a UFC standpoint Griffin VS Bonnar 1 was the most significant fight in the promotions history and probably all of MMA within the "western" world. In Japan Griffin vs Bonnar wasn't nearly as monumental as Royce vs Saku or even when Takiyama fought Fujita. But in America you can't deny its importance. I believe this question has multiple layers and can't be as easily answered if we want to dig deeper. yes,forrest fight with Stephan Bonnar was the biggest bout when it comes to widespread MMA appeal. A lot of people tuned in for that fight and gained a re-education about the sport. However, from a skill set or evolutionary standpoint this particular fight did little to nothing for the UFC or mixed martial arts. It was a great slugfest that brought a renissance for the UFC but did nothing to actually further along the fight game.
So lets break this down.
The most important fight in regards to finacial and audience growth goes hands down to Bonnar VS Griffin 1.
but,lets move along to the evolution of MMA . What's the most important fight when it comes to the evolution of the fight game? (Rush made a topic simular to this) I think that question is much harder to answer because their's been so many jumps ahead since the original conception of the UFC. Do you give it to Royce for showing us the power of BJJ? To Machida for adapting Karate to the sport? Or perhaps Mark Coleman for giving us the time tested effectiveness of GnP?
