Inside MMA just asked their panel for their favorite MMA events, and that gave me the idea for this post. My stand-out MMA events would be:

Royce Gracie vs. Dan Severn. This is the one that really did it for me, proving that Gracie jiu jitsu was by far the best martial art in the world. Royce Gracie, this little skinny nothing, made huge Dan Severn tap out, although Severn was on top of him. Severn had him by about 100 pounds and was a respected Olympic style wrestler. Unbelievable. It really amazed football superstar Jim Brown, doing the commentary on tv.

Rickson Gracie vs. Nobuhiko Takada I. Yes I know it was a mismatch, but what a mismatch it was! It was a privilege to see the greatest groundfighter who ever lived, in action, against anyone. I realize that Rickson Gracie isn't well liked or respected these days because he has a big mouth and doesn't fight anyone, but he was, and probably still is, the greatest groundfighter in the world, though he's too old to be an MMA champion anymore. I have to respect the testimony of the people who should know, the BJJ superstars themselves, the ones who have rolled with Rickson. He's the best there ever was, by far, like a grandmaster in chess, like Bobby Fischer beating the crap out of all the other grandmasters.

Fedor Emelianenko vs. Tim Sylvia. I've known for years that Fedor has been the best fighter in the world, and it was fun to see him dismantle Tiny Tim so quickly, in such a one-sided way, as I knew he would, because as good as Tiny Tim is, he doesn't belong in the ring with God. I'd be extremely impressed and surprised by Randy Couture if he even gives God a decent fight. I expect God to beat the living shit out of Couture. I expect Couture to be embarrassed by his performance against the Pillsbury Dough Boy. There is no one on Earth who deserves to be in the ring with Fedor. Nobody. He's one of a kind. I'd kind of like to see him against Anderson Spider Silva, actually, with all the bullshit about Silva being better than Fedor pound for pound. Granted, Fedor outweighs him by a lot, but still I'd like to see Fedor mash Spider in about 4 seconds. Put things in perspective. B. J. Penn would give Fedor more of a fight than Spider Silva would. At least Penn would have a shot at snapping on a submission, and Spider would have no chance at all of doing anything. I'd make Fedor 15-1 over Penn and 100-1 over Spider.

Baseball. One of my favorite moments was Roger Maris's 61st homerun in 1961. It was really exciting when I was 10 years old to come home from school and turn on the tv and see if Maris would hit one. There were a lot of day games back then. I was a huge Mickey Mantle fan, but I was also a huge Yankee fan, and I wasn't angry at fairly new Yankee Roger Maris for stealing Mick's thunder, as so many others were. So many people hated Maris simply because he wasn't Mantle.

The unbelievable Yankee team of 1998, one of the best baseball teams of all time. It was a pleasure to watch them play.

Football. Just watching Jim Brown carry the ball, even though I was rooting against his team. Watching him get gang-tackled and then seeing the whole pile move because Jim Brown was still going. Also, watching Barry Sanders on Thanksgiving. He may not have been the greatest running back who ever lived, but he was the most entertaining, the way he would cut on a dime and leave the defenders unable to keep up with his moves. Watching Denver QB John Elway do one of his miracle finishes.

Boxing. There was a light heavyweight named Matt Franklin, who later changed his name to Matthew Saad Muhammad. He was the most thrilling boxer I ever saw. The reason was that he was powerful on offense and not so great on defense, and he could take a barrage of punches and keep coming. I remember one fight of his where I was shouting at the tv for the ref to stop the fight in order to save Matt Franklin from getting killed in there, and then Franklin got up and knocked out the other guy. Most exciting fight I ever saw.

Another boxing highlight for me was Carlos Zarate vs. Alfonso Zamora. These were two Mexican kids who were both trained by Mr. Zamora, Alfonso's dad, from childhood. One of the kids became the WBA bantamweight champ at the same time as the other became the WBC bantamweight champ, and they were both undefeated with records of like 50-0. Zamora knocked out all his opponents, while Zarate knocked out all but one, or at least that's how I remember it. They had a great little unification fight which Zarate won, when he knocked out Zamora. Zarate belongs on the short list for greatest pound for pound boxer who ever lived. He won the way a boxer is supposed to win. He knocked your ass out.

Hockey. The Olympics. Eruzione. The miracle win over the Russians. What a fantastic hockey game that was. Other than that, I really can't watch hockey.

Gymnastics. Watching the incomparable Romanian, Nadia Comaneci. She was by far the greatest gymnast, male or female, who ever lived. I remember years later the USA had a gold medalist named Marylou Retton, but she was a total klutz compared to Nadia, who was perfection. Back in her day, nobody was given a perfect 10, but after Nadia performed, I as a viewer knew that Nadia had just earned herself a perfect 10, and the judges agreed. Nadia was the greatest Olympic athlete of all time, any sport, the highlight of the history of the Olympics to date.

Basketball. I remember finishing third in a "21" contest in junior high. Aside from that, I really can't stand the sport. I liked one year's March Madness, the year that Villanova upset Georgetown. The only player I remember from that year is Patrick Ewing of Georgetown.

Pro wrestling. My hero was George The Animal Steele. He was so dumb. He used to bite the padding on the ring posts. He had a green tongue. He was a marvelous role model. He was sort of like a pet gorilla.